UK Agrees to Support Kuwait's Cybersecurity Center

The governments of the United Kingdom and Kuwait have agreed on a deal whereby the UK will support the functions of the Kuwait National Center for Cybersecurity.

In a statement in July, the center's head, Major General Mohammad Bouaraki, said the main goal of the center is to create a national umbrella that is responsible for securing and protecting information networks, telecommunications, information systems, and collecting and exchanging information operations using electronic means.

Signed by Bouaraki and Juliet Wilcox, cybersecurity ambassador for UK Defence and Security Exports at the Department for International Trade, the agreement will see the UK provide the necessary support to meet these goals and provide the center with the systems and capabilities needed to protect itself from threats.

Also, there will be a remit to coordinate incident response efforts.

How Did the Agreement Happen?

The declaration of support follows a commitment made in 2015, when Kuwait announced a $1 billion investment in its cybersecurity objectives, which included working closely with counterparts in the US and UK, and following the UK's lead of the National Cyber Security Centre by having centralized cybersecurity activities under one organization.

As part of the UK's support for the Kuwait center, the NCSC's platform will support vital sectors within the State of Kuwait, enhancing the protection of their systems, and providing support for incident response in relation to cybersecurity.

Key objectives of the Kuwaiti strategy include developing a national information sharing partnership, including government agencies, the private sector and leading cybersecurity companies. This includes forming relationships with cybersecurity vendors, building capabilities and improving the ability to deal with cybersecurity issues.

One vendor Kuwait is forming relations with is Google Cloud, in particular regard to the rapid development of cloud services and IT and cybersecurity. Bouaraki said it was important to benefit from Google's technology capabilities to analyze data, and handle cybersecurity issues with Google Cloud.

According to regional publication Zawya, Wilcox said: "The establishment of the center means that Kuwait has a solid foundation for building the necessary cadres and capabilities, and therefore, we signed this declaration to ensure joint work to think about the future to reach the best ideas with partners in Kuwait."
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the Crown Prince of Kuwait, Sheikh Mishal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, met in London recently, where the discussions included work to deepen a longstanding cooperation on defense, including in cybersecurity.