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Saudi Warns of Ukraine War Exacerbating Cybersecurity Breaches

Saudi Arabia is working on developing the fields of technology and cybersecurity and enhancing them with qualified national cadres (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia is working on developing the fields of technology and cybersecurity and enhancing them with qualified national cadres (Asharq Al-Awsat)
    Medina – Asharq Al-Awsat
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Saudi Warns of Ukraine War Exacerbating Cybersecurity Breaches

Saudi Arabia is working on developing the fields of technology and cybersecurity and enhancing them with qualified national cadres (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia is working on developing the fields of technology and cybersecurity and enhancing them with qualified national cadres (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi experts are warning against aggravating cybersecurity breaches as the effects of the Russian-Ukrainian war take a toll. So far, Saudi efforts have led to adding 40 job roles for cadres working in the field of cybersecurity.

Field specialists estimated the global shortage of human cadres at more than 3 million jobs.

Saudi Arabia has become more in need of qualified human personnel due to the expansion of its technology market, which is close to a fifth of the entire market size in the Middle East.

A seminar on the national economic effects of cybersecurity showed that about 85% of cybersecurity problems are caused by human errors.

However, cyber awareness and the use of technology and job examinations with human cadres can reduce these errors.

Majed Al-Sahli, a specialist in strategy and international cooperation at the National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA), stressed that the national cybersecurity strategy reflects Saudi Arabia’s ambition in a balanced manner.

The Kingdom’s strategy is divided between safety, trust, and growth.

“The strategy is based on several foundations, namely processes, procedures, techniques and human cadres,” Al-Sahli told Asharq Al-Awsat.

In an economic forum, Al-Sahli reviewed controls developed by the NCA.

These controls included the development of cloud computing controls, operational systems, e-commerce, and remote work.

Al-Sahli pointed out the role of the coronavirus pandemic in accelerating the development process of controls.

He highlighted several of the authority’s initiatives, such as capacity building, reducing risks, and democratizing cybersecurity.

Al-Sahli also reviewed national partnerships that led to the launch of the Saudi framework for cybersecurity forces and the addition of 40 job roles in cooperation with the General Authority for Statistics and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development.

Moreover, the Kingdom is working on cyber education, which is a promising project that could support and graduate qualified cadres.

Saudi Arabia is more in need of qualified cadres due to the size of the technology market in the Kingdom, which is approximately 17% of the market size in the Middle East.

The Kingdom’s sizable share of the technology market in the region represents a challenge in terms of bridging the gap found in human cadres.

Arwa Al-Hamad, Director of Cybersecurity at “Sanabel,” said that cybersecurity breaches became evident during the Russian-Ukrainian war.

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Business

US Treasury Targets Russia's Gazprombank with New Sanctions

FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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US Treasury Targets Russia's Gazprombank with New Sanctions

FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

The United States imposed new sanctions on Russia's Gazprombank on Thursday, the Treasury Department said, as President Joe Biden steps up actions to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine before he leaves office in January.
The move, which wields the department's most powerful sanctions tool, effectively kicks Gazprombank out of the US banking system, bans its trade with Americans and freezes its US assets, Reuters reported.
Gazprombank is one of Russia's largest banks and is partially owned by Kremlin-owned gas company Gazprom. Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has been urging the US to impose more sanctions on the bank, which receives payments for natural gas from Gazprom's customers in Europe.
The fresh sanctions come days after the Biden administration allowed Kyiv to use US ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory. On Tuesday, Ukraine fired the weapons, the longest range missiles Washington has supplied for such attacks on Russia, on the war's 1,000th day.
The Treasury also imposed sanctions on 50 small-to-medium Russian banks to curtail the country's connections to the international financial system and prevent it from abusing it to pay for technology and equipment needed for the war. It warned that foreign financial institutions that maintain correspondent relationships with the targeted banks "entails significant sanctions risk."
"This sweeping action will make it harder for the Kremlin to evade US sanctions and fund and equip its military," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. "We will continue to take decisive steps against any financial channels Russia uses to support its illegal and unprovoked war in Ukraine."
Gazprombank said Washington's latest move would not affect its operations. The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Along with the sanctions, Treasury also issued two new general licenses authorizing US entities to wind down transactions involving Gazprombank, among other financial institutions, and to take steps to divest from debt or equity issued by Gazprombank.
Gazprombank is a conduit for Russia to purchase military materiel in its war against Ukraine, the Treasury said. The Russian government also uses the bank to pay its soldiers, including for combat bonuses, and to compensate the families of its soldiers killed in the war.
The administration believes the new sanctions improve Ukraine's position on the battlefield and ability to achieve a just peace, a source familiar with the matter said.
COLLATERAL IMPACT
While Gazprombank has been on the administration's radar for years, it has been seen as a last resort because of its focus on energy and the desire to avoid collateral impact on Europe, a Washington-based trade lawyer said.
"I think that the current administration is trying to put as much pressure and add as many sanctions as possible prior to January 20th to make it harder for the next administration to unwind," said the lawyer, Douglas Jacobson.
Officials in Slovakia and Hungary said they were studying the impacts of the new US sanctions.
Trump would have the power to remove the sanctions, which were imposed under an executive order by Biden, if he wants to take a different stance, Jacobson said.
After Russia's invasion in 2022, the Treasury placed debt and equity restrictions on 13 Russian firms, including Gazprombank, Sberbank and the Russian Agricultural Bank.
The US Treasury has also worked to provide Ukraine with funds from windfall proceeds of frozen Russian assets.