A former military intelligence supremo from Britain has warned firms
in the UAE and its neighbours to be alive to the threat posed to their
business by cyber criminals.
Sir Joe French, who in his role as Chief of Defence Intelligence was in charge of co-ordinating intelligence across the UK’s armed forces, says firms of every stripe must now be on their guard.
“I just can’t think that of an aspect of life that isn’t potentially vulnerable,” he warned.
Earlier this month famed ‘hactivist’ collective Anonymous announced it plans to target the global oil industry, and Sir Joe told 7DAYS that the Gulf’s oil installations would likely be a “prime target” for a new breed of hackers. But the threat doesn’t stop there, he explained.
He said: “It is just a part of modern life and given the upset that people want to cause if they have got some sort of grudge against the government then there are all sorts of things that could be done to actually make life very, very difficult.”
He added: “If you take the [road] traffic system you could very easily, if you got into the wrong computers, cause absolute chaos. As for the burgeoning airline industry in this part of the world, it wouldn’t take long to upset the computers there - which would cause chaos among what’s going on. And desalination plants will be something on the list that you want to make sure that you are protecting very adequately.”
Sir Joe was head of Britain’s military intelligence between 2000 and 2003 - at a time when the UK government was making its controversial case to go to war in Iraq. Earlier this year he was appointed to a board of advisors on cyber education by the Defence Services Marketing Council - an organisation for defence firms looking to do business in the Middle East.
Increasingly, around the world, the trend is for key national infrastructure to be run by private companies, he said.
So the Gulf must ensure that government and business share information and expertise in order to minimise the threat of a lapse. And for companies, that means full engagement by their top team.
He said: “It isn’t something you just leave to a functionary - the chief telecoms officer or the chief information officer - the example has to come from the very top.”
Sir Joe French, who in his role as Chief of Defence Intelligence was in charge of co-ordinating intelligence across the UK’s armed forces, says firms of every stripe must now be on their guard.
“I just can’t think that of an aspect of life that isn’t potentially vulnerable,” he warned.
Earlier this month famed ‘hactivist’ collective Anonymous announced it plans to target the global oil industry, and Sir Joe told 7DAYS that the Gulf’s oil installations would likely be a “prime target” for a new breed of hackers. But the threat doesn’t stop there, he explained.
He said: “It is just a part of modern life and given the upset that people want to cause if they have got some sort of grudge against the government then there are all sorts of things that could be done to actually make life very, very difficult.”
He added: “If you take the [road] traffic system you could very easily, if you got into the wrong computers, cause absolute chaos. As for the burgeoning airline industry in this part of the world, it wouldn’t take long to upset the computers there - which would cause chaos among what’s going on. And desalination plants will be something on the list that you want to make sure that you are protecting very adequately.”
Sir Joe was head of Britain’s military intelligence between 2000 and 2003 - at a time when the UK government was making its controversial case to go to war in Iraq. Earlier this year he was appointed to a board of advisors on cyber education by the Defence Services Marketing Council - an organisation for defence firms looking to do business in the Middle East.
Increasingly, around the world, the trend is for key national infrastructure to be run by private companies, he said.
So the Gulf must ensure that government and business share information and expertise in order to minimise the threat of a lapse. And for companies, that means full engagement by their top team.
He said: “It isn’t something you just leave to a functionary - the chief telecoms officer or the chief information officer - the example has to come from the very top.”
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