MAKKAH — More than 145 national agencies participating in the Hajj 2023, are benefiting from the cyber operations room of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA). The cyber operations room has witnessed the conducting of more than 250 cyber assessments aimed at measuring the cyber risks of sensitive assets and systems. It has also provided support for enabling agencies from providing their services to the Hajj pilgrims in a reliable and safe manner. The cyber operations room is working around the hour to monitor cyber threats, and deal with any cyber developments during the Hajj season. It also identifies and updates all vital assets and services, and allocates cyber incident response teams, while putting them in a state of readiness. The technical cyber assessments included reviewing the structure and settings of the technical infrastructure of the national entities, network security, web apps security, and mobile apps security. This is in addition to conducting several assessments related to compliance with the cyber security controls issued by SDAIA. Last May, SDAIA implemented the "CyberSecurity Exercise for the Hajj season 1444 AH," in the Makkah region, in which more than 100 national entities, represented by more than 350 officials and specialists in cyber security, participated in it. During the exercise, SDAIA simulated realistic scenarios for several different types of cyberattacks, through which the emergency incident response mechanism was applied. It is noteworthy that the SDAIA is the competent authority for cybersecurity in Saudi Arabia, and the national reference in its affairs.
