Electricity and Water Affairs Minister Abdulhussain Mirza inaugurated the first edition of SmartSec Bahrain’s Cybersecurity and Blockchain conference.

The first edition of SmartSec conference kicked off on Tuesday, jointly organised by Tamkeen Labour Fund and Bahrain Technology Companies Society (BTECH), a strategic partnership with Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA).

More than 250 Delegates including representatives from government bodies and ministries, and institutions concerned in Cybersecurity & Blockchain took part in the conference to be acquainted with the latest trends, innovation, and solutions featured by the international cybersecurity and Blockchain community.

The minister said that Cybersecurity is an essential part of people’s lives because most daily actions involve the use of technology in one way or another.

"For example, those global cyber-attacks that affected more than 60 countries including Bahrain last year and the recent warning by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) to banks and financial institutions of orchestrated attacks planned at ATMs around the world," he said.

"The question of information security is very important when we conduct more of our lives digitally, we must ensure that the electricity supply that makes all this digital technology work safely and immune against cyber-attacks."
"Nowadays, the concern about hacking the information security system is not only limited to companies but also extends to your safety system as an individual. As IT systems grow, new electronic risks are emerging and the number of threat is growing."

The keynote speaker of the conference Mika Lauhde, Vice-President- cybersecurity and privacy Huawei Technologies Co discussed Cybersecurity & New Regulatory Frontiers, pointing to the importance of the Blockchain in protecting information and maintaining privacy within institutions.

SmartSec aims to explore and localise the best global practices in Cyber Security & Blockchain, noting an accelerated approach of public and private institutions in Bahrain to use modern technologies such as cloud computing which leads institutions to face challenges of maintaining data security.

Decision-makers in all government and private entities such as banks, educational and health institutions, who seeks to invest the digital transformation to enhance their performance and competitiveness, presence in this event is important thus to put their institutions on the right track of digital transformation, identify opportunities and challenges of this transformation and contribute to strengthen the leadership of Bahrain in this field.