Abu Dhabi, February 25, 2010

 The Ministry of State for Federal National Council Affairs has organized a training program entitled (Awareness on Security and Information Protection) with the participation of H.E. Dr. Mohammed Saeed Al Ghufli; Executive Director of the Federal National Council Affairs; H.E Sami Mohammed bin Adi, Chief Executive Officer of the Support Services; Heads of Departments and all Staff.

This program was held within the framework of the Ministry’s interest to develop human cadres and upgrade its competence, to improve and attain the highest ranks of excellence at all levels and to enhance the quality of the administrative and professional the outcomes; the fourth strategic objective of the Ministry.

 In addition, this training program aims to increase the sense of security of Information level among the employees of the Ministry and to develop their sense of responsibility in dealing with information charges that are of both types: the documentary and the electronic. It also aims to upgrade the mechanisms of dealing with the supporting means related to communication, data transfer and data storage  in order to maintain the confidentiality and non-disclosure of information except in the cases regulated through the internal law and  regulations of the Ministry.

The training program included a series of real-life examples of the most common operations of Phishing that mislead the randomly chosen victims through hooking their usernames and passwords to virtual portals that are identical to those belonging to institutions of high credibility such as banks and semi-government entities. An  outline of the social engineering concept and how persons with criminal tendencies use these developed techniques against internet users who lack knowledge and experience was explained .

At the end of the training program, a system of proposed solutions has been developed to contribute in raising the level of awareness amongst all members of the Ministry and setting a plan that contains  preventive measures in dealing with future technological changes in information security and protection,  mechanisms of safely storing documents, files, and backups and finding ways of increasing office and work sites security awareness as it is one of the supporting elements in the operations against illegal practices in information security.

Towards the end  of the training program, H.E Tariq Hilal Lootah, Director General of the Ministry of State for Federal National Council Affairs expressed his great pleasure with the active interaction displayed by the staff members towards the various topics discussed during the training program, and has also praised the high level of the trainer which reflects the successful choice of topics selected by the Ministry  to identify the staff training needs and the best  training service providers.

H.E Tariq Lootah said:”In the ministry, we believe the training process is at the heart of the administrative development process, which confirms our commitment in the continuous development and improvement requirement process of Total Quality Management adopted by the Ministry.”

H.E also declared that the obtaining of two ISO certificate by the Ministry in February is not the end of the road, but a curve to new directions for further prospects of administrative developmental processes that are the result of training plans applications for different occupational groups as part of the objectives of the Ministry in preparing and qualifying leaders of the second row ; enlightened by the first component of the national document of the UAE for the year 2021, (United in Ambition and Responsibility), which aims at preparing Emirati citizens who demonstrate ambition, sense of responsibility and professional ethics . 

His Excellency added:” The methodology for determining the training requirements approved by the Ministry had set out three main topics for the training, the first is to establish a Corporate culture that aims to promote employee loyalty, productivity, creativity and teamwork. The second  part is focused on vocational training and capacity development based on the employee provided that they are connected with the nature of his work. The third topic provides the staff with a range of basic skills that contribute to their skills development.”

It should be noted that the Ministry has dedicated 60 hours of training to different job categories and has achieved a rate of 100% in training staff members in accordance with the Ministry’s key performance indicators of 2009.