Doha, Qatar: The National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) is organising the twelfth edition of the National Cyber Drill, under the theme 'Cross-Border Attacks,' with the participation of more than 170 critical entities, during the period from November 16–23, 2025.

This year's edition will witness hosting the first joint Arab cybersecurity exercise, carried out under the Council of Arab Ministers for Cybersecurity within the League of Arab States. In parallel, the Agency is conducting the“Capture the Flag” competition, aimed at university students to enhance their technical capabilities through realistic cybersecurity scenarios.

The National Cyber Drill aims to assess national readiness of various entities and sectors in the country, and train teams on managing cyber crises through specially designed, reality-based scenarios. It also reflects the qualitative transformation in mechanisms used to measure national compliance with various regulatory and legislative frameworks.

Engineer Dana Al-Abdulla, Director of Governance Affairs at the National Cyber Security Agency, emphasised that the National Cyber Drill is an annual event designed to enhance the efficiency and cyber readiness of national entities.

She noted that it serves as a national benchmark that enables the identification, improvement, and mitigation of gaps by evaluating the performance of participating entities, analysing results, and providing tailored plans and best practices to develop each entity's cybersecurity posture. This, she noted, supports institutional, economic, and human development in the country and aligns with the core pillars of Qatar National Vision 2030 and the objectives of the National Cybersecurity Strategy 2024–2030.

In the same regard, Mohammed AlMannai, Director of the Resilience, Risk and Cyber Programme Delivery Department at the National Cyber Security Agency, explained that this year's edition is based on advanced technical scenarios designed to test organisations' ability to respond effectively to cyberattacks and their compliance with national frameworks such as the Data Privacy Protection Law, the Cyber Incident Management Framework, the Data Classification Policy, and the Institutional Framework for Cyber Crisis Management.

He added that“the twelfth edition of the National Cyber Drill includes three main events: the first one dedicated to national entities, and service providers; the second comprising the joint Arab exercise; and the third being the 'Capture the Flag' competition aimed at university students.”

Following the conclusion of the drill, the Agency will review and analyse results and provide tailored support to enhance resilience, readiness, and the ability to contain diverse threats, contributing to the continued growth and development of the national cybersecurity ecosystem.

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