The College of Computing and Informatics in collaboration with College of Business Administration, College of Law, and College of Communication hosted a hybrid event as part of the Cybersecurity Week to discuss recent advances in the domain and the need for developing new interdisciplinary programs in Cybersecurity.
Prof. Yousef Haik, The Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs commanded the initiative and expressed his admiration for the stance taken by the Colleges which comes in a series of initiatives led by CCI that aims to promote interdisciplinary work and the underpinning employability value provided for the future cohorts of students.
Prof. Abbes Amira, Dean of College of Computing & Informatics, echoed the critical need to take practical step forward to ensure a timely preparation and delivery of programs as forecasted by market demands and changing market dynamics.
During the panel discussion, moderated by Dr. Mohammad Lataifeh, with participating faculty Dr. Mohammad Al Hawari, College of Business Administration, Dr. Mohammed Yousaf, College of Communication, Dr. Ahmad Farah College of Law, and Prof. Ibrahim Kamel College of Computing and Informatics about developing Interdisciplinary programs in Cybersecurity.
The panel deliberated key issues that must be addressed, if we are to align the University programs with the UAE centennial vision 2071 where excellence in education, a diversified knowledge economy, and A happy and cohesive society that have been drafted as the pillars of such transformation.
Among these issues were the expected challenges that could face the adoption of interdisciplinary programs in cybersecurity curriculum, including internal and external factors, accreditation regulations and policies and the future of such interdisciplinarity in terms of employability, viability, market feasibility, and cost of implementation.
The second part of the event included a timely presentation from our distinguished Guest Speaker Prof. Mohammad Hammoudeh, Saudi Aramco Chair Professor, KFUPM about Digital Twins for Cyber Effects Modelling of IoT/CPS Points of Low Resilience.
In his talk Prof. Hammoudeh discussed the scale and complexity needed to approach cyber resilience in IoT- enabled critical national infrastructure (CNI) through the use of digital twins.
The Speaker then elaborated on the efficiencies and challenges introduced from the combination of cyber modelling and simulation using digital twins and state-of-the-art AI-enabled threat source characterisation in building secure and resilient CPS/IoT systems.
The talk concluded with a roadmap of holistic cyber resilience testing scenarios that integrate cyber standards and security descriptors with emerging modelling techniques to effectively represent the impact of cyberattacks and resilience efforts.
