DUBAI

ICDL Arabia, the governing body and certification authority for the ICDL certificate programme in Egypt, GCC States and Iraq, has plans to certify more than 40,000 candidates in information technology (IT) security in the GCC.

Taking the drive for IT security further, ICDL Arabia is carrying out this initiative in collaboration with concerned authorities within education, ICT policymakers and law enforcement across the GCC region, said a statement.

With the growing use of smart devices and easy access to the internet across the world, IT security has become a major concern, with huge investments being made to make people aware about safe practices of internet usage, said a recent study.

The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region’s overall IT security spend will be around $1.2 billion in the next few years, with the Middle East to allocate $9.5 billion by 2019, it said.

The regional organisational spend is estimated at around 10 to 12 per cent of their total IT budget on security, compared to six per cent globally.

Jamilzx Ezzo, director general, ICDL Arabia, said: “It is evident that people’s lack of awareness about IT security often leads to the biggest threats to privacy, causing irreparable damage exposing individuals and organisations to identity theft, extortion, loss of data and misuse of financial information.

“It is equally important to spread IT security awareness from within our education, workplace and household; hence we call on all policy and decision makers within the public and private sectors to give the utmost priority to this subject and invest in spreading awareness to avert these risks.

“For this reason, ICDL Arabia offers a comprehensive certification on IT security and has partnered with several regional public sector organisations to grant over 40,000 certifications. The strategic and timely move demonstrates our keenness to extend our support to regional governments and businesses, so that they understand the seriousness of the threat and ensure that employees are trained to keep their personal information as well as vital company information secured.”

ICDL Arabia’s IT Security certification programme will allow candidates to realise the concepts of ICT security so that they can maintain a secure network connection, browse the internet safely, and manage data and information appropriately, said the statement.

The content of the programme will cover topics such as security concepts, malware, network security, secure web use, communications and secure data management, it said.

The skills gained will also enable candidates to protect their devices from unauthorised access, know about different types of networks, and understand the etiquettes of emails and instant messaging, it added. - TradeArabia News Service