Qatar- Cyber attacks should be dealt seriously: Attiyah

Minister of State for Defence Affairs and Member of the Council of Ministers HE Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah yesterday said that cyber attack is a real threat and should be dealt seriously.
Dr Al Attiyah made this remarks speaking at the Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) on ‘Electronic Attacks and their Economic and Social Effects' as part of the campus's Dean's lecture series. He discussed about cyber attacks, and their effects on the economy, society, and many other aspects of it. To explain the nature of cyber attacks, Dr Al Attiyah presented a case study based on a hypothetical situation.
'I want to present you now with a case study; this is of course completely hypothetical, mind you. No truth to it whatsoever! Let's say that there were a number of state actors. And these state actors decided to boycott and besiege their wealthy, small neighbour state. They wanted to infringe on its sovereignty and control its domestic and sovereign funds for their own personal gains. They searched high and low for a way to legitimise and convince their own societies of the besiegement. Failing to find lawful means to do so, they concocted a plan to hack the national news agency of that small, wealthy nation next door and attribute false statements to the head of state of that country.
'What followed was a synchronised and systematic boycott and besiegement that separated families, disrupted trade and caused an international political frenzy. In the immediate aftermath of the hacking, confusion and panic ensued, Dr Al Attiyah said.

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