Oman Data Park, Oman’s leading Cloud computing company, celebrated the commissioning of the company’s Cyber ​​Security Center at Knowledge Oasis Muscat under the patronage of His Excellency Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Futtaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications, in the presence of senior government officials, board members, as well as CEO’s and senior management teams from its customers.

The Center seeks to provide IT services, enhance managed security services including a 24/7 cybersecurity operations and a network operations team, managed by an elite team of experienced Omani experts.

The Center’s two security and network operations teams hold extensive experience in dealing with various cyber threats. The enhanced focus on the newly commissioned Cyber Security Centre will further drive the company’s determination for higher security activities as well as preparation for the 4th Industrial revolution and Gig economy.

On the occasion of the Center’s commissioning, Eng. Maqbool Al Wahaibi, CEO of Oman Data Park, expressed his delight at the opening of the Cyber ​​Security Center, adding that the center will enhance Oman Data Park’s services and will highly contribute in strengthening the company’s position in the Sultanate as a leader in cloud computing.

Al Wahaibi pointed out the various challenges that the company has faced since launching its operations in 2012 in increasing awareness of Cloud services in the Sultanate and how the company has achieved many successes over the past years through a well-defined business plan that showcased the operational and long term benefits to be reaped by both private and government entities.

“Managed data center services and accompanying cloud services are vital parts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution axis, whose features are already emerging on the ground, such as online shopping, robot-managed enterprises, self-automated vehicles, smart digital industries, Assets and sensitive resources, such as oilfields, power stations, logistics, aviation, banks and other sectors.. It is no secret that as technology evolves, security risks becomes high as its threats impacts are not limited at individuals and institutions, but extends to be real threat to the national security and economic resources of countries.

In order for the Sultanate to maintain its advanced position as a preferred investment destination, by enjoying the stable security and political environment that has been established by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, we must strive to continue the development of the cyber security system. Oman Data Park is determined to invest heavily in this field, along with the efforts of the competent institutions in the State, to provide digital security protection by establishing a specialized cybersecurity center working side by side with the relevant institutions in the Sultanate.”

He further added, ” The Oman Data Park Cyber Security Center focuses on four main areas: educational aspects through the release of free periodic reports, which contain the most important types of actual security risks, offering training courses for individuals and institutions, providing security services. The Center will also link with other local and international centers to identify the most important potential security risks in cyberspace to reduce their occurrence in an early stage.”

Maitham Al-Lawati, General Manager of the Cyber ​​Security Center at Oman Data Park, showed a presentation on on ODP’s cyber security capabilities, highlighting the major attacks in 2018, such as e-mail spoofing, DDoS, targeted malware, counterfeit mobile applications, sales of stolen credentials in the black market, as well as imposition on social media, to name a few.

“The threat level is always on the rise and our customers look forward to maintaining their safety. This is why we are preparing for the future with this newly commissioned Cyber Security Centre where we will continue to offer an even more advanced level of Intelligence, protection and mitigation to our present and future clients.’’ He further thanked the supporting partners Fortinet, Cisco and MenaInfoSec for their part in enabling the cyber security offerings.

According to a new survey of risk managers and workers by the Depository Trust and the Clearinghouse Corp., the biggest threat to markets in 2019 is the threat of a cybersecurity attack. In today’s interconnected world, no business can ignore such threats as ransom demand, phishing, malware and others.

The commissioning of the Cyber ​​Security Center is also a celebration of Oman Data Park’s achievements as a leading player in the data center services sector in Oman, whether it is a government company, a private company or even a small and medium enterprise operating in or outside the Sultanate of Oman. ODP is fully equipped to to serve with cost-effective and secure IT needs and lead the customer’s business into tomorrow while they comfortably focus on their core business activities. In addition, Oman Data Park partners with qualified vendors to provide comprehensive security services and threat analysis for proactive and reactive security services.

The company currently operates three Tier-3 global data centers located in the Knowledge Oasis Muscat(KOM) in Rusayl, Wattayah, and Duqm Districts. The Data Center provides a diverse set of services such as Co-location, Managed Security, Cloud and Disaster Recovery services to name a few. At present, Oman Data Park serves a large number of businesses including major banks and oil and gas companies operating in the Sultanate.

The winner of the 2018-19 Telecom Innovations Award for Cyber Security, ODP was highlighted by Gartner as a key player in the GCC for Public Cloud Computing. The company’s services are also ISO 27001/ISO 2000 certified and PCI-DSS and EU GDPR- ready.