MORE than 500 staff working in different sectors, including security agencies, participated in a cyber security drill yesterday to test system readiness to counter emerging threats.
The national cyber drill, Cyber Shield 2025 under the theme ‘Supply Chain Attacks’, kicked off under the patronage of National Security Adviser, Royal Guard commander and Supreme Defence Council secretary-general Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
The exercise will continue until Sunday and has been organised by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), bringing together government bodies, critical sectors and the private sector as part of Bahrain’s ongoing efforts to strengthen cyber defences.
“The drill simulates an advanced cyber attack scenario to test the preparedness of participating entities and the effectiveness of co-ordination mechanisms,” said a statement.
“It also aims to develop technical capabilities, refine defensive measures and promote best practices in cyber crisis management.”
A screenshot of the video posted by the NCSC yesterday
A supply chain attack uses third-party tools or services to infiltrate a target’s system or network.
Shaikh Salman speaks during the cyber security drill
NCSC chief executive Shaikh Salman bin Mohammed Al Khalifa said the exercise is “a cornerstone of Bahrain’s cybersecurity strategy, helping to build national expertise, raise awareness across government and vital sectors and reinforce joint institutional efforts to confront evolving digital risks”.
He noted that more than 560 participants from government, security, health, banking, transport, communications, energy, industry and education sectors are taking part, reflecting growing recognition of the importance of cyber resilience.
Shaikh Salman added Cyber Shield 2025 represented a strategic step towards consolidating Bahrain’s cybersecurity framework, in line with the leadership’s vision to safeguard the kingdom’s digital space and ensure the readiness of national teams to respond effectively to cyber incidents.
Another screenshot of a promotional video posted by the NCSC as it launched the national cyber security drill yesterday
The NCSC posted on its social media yesterday a fictional video showing different characters and entities responding to a supply chain attack.
The GDN reported last week that the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region has seen an unprecedented 236 per cent surge in distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks during the second quarter of this year, driven largely by escalating geopolitical conflicts.
A new report from cybersecurity firm StormWall said the surge marked the highest number of attacks ever recorded in the region’s history, with hacktivist groups accounting for 73pc of all malicious traffic.
The report added that government infrastructure bore the brunt of these attacks, fuelled by tensions stemming from the Israel-Palestine and Iran-Israel conflicts.
The national cyber security strategy is made of five pillars that support the kingdom’s cyber security needs
StormWall, which operates dedicated scrubbing centres in the Middle East with a combined filtering capacity of over five terabits per second (tbps), analysed attack patterns across its regional network to compile the data.
The financial sector was the most targeted industry in Mena, absorbing 38pc of all cyberattacks. This represented a 26pc increase in attacks against the sector compared to the previous year. Government services were the second most attacked, with a 16pc share and a 53pc increase, followed by the telecommunications sector at 14pc.
Geographically, Saudi Arabia was the most targeted country, accounting for 22pc of all attacks.
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