Omantel, the premier provider of integrated telecommunications services in the Sultanate, has teamed up with EY, a leading global professional services organisation, to provide advanced Cybersecurity as a Service (CaaS) from Oman to the region. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, and will be effective April 1, 2018.

Under the agreement, the two firms will work together to provide effective solutions to meet the security needs of corporate clients and the government sector in the Sultanate. Omantel will leverage EY’s CaaS portfolio with its Threat Detection and Response (TDR) capability using the advanced Digital Security Operations Centre (DSOC), powered by the firm’s acclaimed Cyber Analytics platform. The DSOC is a part of EY’s larger CaaS global cyber security portfolio to help clients address the most challenging cybersecurity risks and threats.

The DSOC also provides the capabilities of a traditional SOC by using advanced analytics and helps organisations address advanced cyberattacks that arise from emerging digital technologies and converged digital ecosystems. Further, DSOC has a strategic alliance with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), which allows it to overcome challenges pertaining to monitoring security, incident responses, and identifying threats.

“Organisations today, whether public or private, are increasingly introducing digital technologies to expedite processes and increase efficiencies. Against this backdrop, the threat arising from cybercrime is now more real than ever. The digitisation of the Sultanate, however, continues to remain the top priority, thereby underscoring the need for secure systems and techniques,” Fadi Nasser, GM of Omantel’s ICT division, said.

“Digital technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Machine-to-Machine (M2M), blockchain, mobility, cloud computing, big data, and analytics are extremely beneficial to organisations but also expose them to significant risks. As a result, traditional security systems are simply not enough anymore,” Mohamed Nayaz, Partner, MENA Cybersecurity, EY, said.

“Rather than preventing threats, the time has now come to make systems more robust and resilient to threats and attacks. This belief lies at the heart of our offerings as we try to empower organisations to adjust to a new normal in the digital world,” he further said.

“Omantel, and broadly the Sultanate, has defined a clear vision for a digital Oman. We are delighted to work with the leading ICT service provider and telecommunications brand in the country to further this vision and tackle with them the next generation of emerging cyber threats across the entire digital ecosystem,” he added.

“Cyberattacks are no longer a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’. Hackers are increasingly relentless. When one tactic fails, they will try another until they breach an organisation’s defences. At the same time, rapid technology adoption is increasing an organisation’s vulnerability to attacks through increased online presence, broader use of social media, mass adoption of mobile devices, increased usage of cloud services, and the collection and analysis of big data,” Ahmed Reda, MENA Technology Media and Telecommunications Leader, EY, said.

“We are indeed delighted to collaborate with Omantel with our state-of-the-art cyber analytics service,” he added.

Advanced cyber-security services are not new to Omantel, which had already developed formidable security capabilities via its leading subsidiary, Oman Data Park, a strong leader in this space. This partnership ties in well with Omantel’s agenda, which aims to pioneer ICT solutions in the Sultanate, offering clients the largest ICT portfolio of services with a wide and complementing range of capabilities, as a trusted partner for all of customers’ technology needs.

To further this vision, Omantel is partnering with a number of leading institutions to provide end-to-end ICT solutions to help companies grow more efficiently without incurring expensive IT infrastructure, while enabling new revenue streams for their businesses. The Mobile World Congress is an exhibition where leading telecommunications companies, device manufacturers, digital solutions providers, and network operators from around the world gather to showcase the latest innovations and services.

Omantel ICT was established with the dedicated purpose of delivering end-to-end technology services from managed IT infrastructure to application platforms, cloud computing, and big data analytics. Such offerings allow businesses to focus on their core competencies without being distracted by the overheads of managing IT, all the while requiring the service provider to offer a highly credible and specialised monitoring capacity to enhance value to the client.