QU’s Kindi Centre for Computing Research kicks off Cyber Week 2021

Kindi Centre for Computing Research at Qatar University's College of Engineering (QU-CENG) kicked off Cyber Week 2021, sponsored by Dolphin Energy Limited, under the title ‘Towards a smart and secure future’.

The week's activities represent a gathering of experts and researchers in the area of cyber security and artificial intelligence to discuss solutions that can stand to today’s challenges. In addition to hosting talks by renowned experts in those fields, the event includes workshops and a live capture-the-flag competition.In her opening speech, QU's vice-president for Research and Graduate Studies Prof Mariam al-Maadeed said “Through this week, QU is supporting the vision of the National Cyber Security and Artificial Intelligence Strategies, which represent roadmaps to raising the awareness of the importance of cyber security and artificial intelligence, and contribute to the preservation of the fundamental rights and values of Qatari society.”"This week also comes to urge the need to develop mechanisms to combat cybercrime, increase awareness of its risks, and the importance of raising and enhancing the level of security related to this type of crime in public and private organisations and institutions, in addition to keeping abreast of modern technologies that make electronic systems more secure and cohesive, and better able to address cybercrime challenges to address cross-border crime and cyber-attacks,” she added.Commenting on the company’s sponsorship for this activity, Dolphin Energy general manager – Qatar Ali Alrahbi said: “This is an important initiative and it’s imperative that we lend our support to the Cyber Week. To find solutions, we need to identify and understand the risks, ensure we maintain a strong defence and control over our systems, and use technologies that will offer protection, especially in the face of increasing cyber-attacks worldwide. I wish all participants in the event a successful outcome.” Commenting on the week’s theme, Kindi Centre for Computing Research director Dr Abdulaziz al-Ali said: “This year’s Cyber Week marks the beginning of a new era for Kindi as the centre’s research scope expands to include Artificial Intelligence (AI), its sub-disciplines such as machine learning, along with their ubiquitous modern applications. We also remain committed to our flagship Cyber Security research track as we have always been since the centre’s inception. "The addition of AI will only help bolster our research activities by enabling the centre to work on multidisciplinary projects such as AI in health, environment, agriculture, energy, education, as well as in cyber security. In alignment with Qatar’s national vision, this expansion will undoubtedly build national capacity in these ever-more-important fields given the center’s exposure to the largest university level student body in the country at QU.”“Cybercrime has become more sophisticated over the years and on larger scales, urging the need to build more advanced methods to cope with them. Modern approaches resort to using AI techniques to build resilient systems that target modern attacks. Having the expertise in AI is now more important than ever to address such threats,” he noted. "The advancements enabled today by AI cannot be overstated. We are witnessing a change that will redefine the jobs and norms of the future. AI is already being used in several industry and government sectors as well as in everyone’s smartphones, smart watches and soon smart homes!”