Speaker Bio

Dr. Al Kuwaiti has appointed into the Cabinet as the Head of the Cyber Security for the UAE Government since 2020. As the Head of the Cyber Security, his mandate includes being the Chairman of the UAE Cyber Security Council as well as Managing Director of the National Data Centre under the Supreme Council for National Security. As the Head of Cyber Security for the UAE Government by investiture, Dr. Al Kuwaiti has legal authority over all aspects pertaining securing the cyberspace for the entire Nation. In his current role, Dr. Al Kuwaiti is tasked with the responsibility of charting a cyber security strategy for the Nation that not only ensuring that the UAE will be entering into the digital era with fully capable of dealing with the new threat landscape brought about by the pandemic, but also to ensure UAE’s leadership in cyber security globally towards establishing the UAE as the world’s leading trusted digital hub supporting the Nation’s digital transformation agenda and the digital future of all residents who made UAE their home. Towards that end, he led the Council to put together an implementation plan to protect the UAE cyberspace through emerging technologies such as Cloud, Big Data and AI in a wholeof-government approach coordinating and orchestrating efforts between Emirates or government entities via a unified platform built and managed by the Council. Under Dr. Al Kuwaiti’s leadership, the UAE has advanced 42 positions in the ITU Global Cybersecurity Index, rising to 5th place globally from 47th place in the last assessment. Dr. Al Kuwaiti has also led UAE to many first, including Guinness World of Records for having the most users in a cyber capture the flag (CTF) competition and the largest bug bounty competition, all initiatives that aims at supporting capacity building in Cyber Security and improving the technical competencies of cyber security professionals and enthusiasts. More importantly, he is most instrumental in advocating for realizing the value of cyber security by demonstrating cyber security as a critical business enabler. Since 2021, Dr. AlKuwaiti plays the role of an ambassador for collaboration between the government and cyber agencies, helping to bridge the discussion between the two major stakeholders in the digital economy ecosystem. Under his chaperone, key public-private partnerships were established between the UAE Cyber Security Council and leading local and international cyber security organizations with the goal of making a positive contribution to the UAE cyber agenda and be a major force that will benefit the global cyber security industry. Additionally, bilateral agreements established with countries both within the region and across the world contributed towards mutual information sharing, capacity development and legal assistance aid treaties, all key outcomes as a result of the National Cyber Security Strategy that he has put in place in realizing the vision of the UAE for the next 50 years. Dr. Al Kuwaiti also sits on the Boards of the UAE Council for Digital Wellbeing, Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), Federal Geographic Information Center and is on the Advisory Committees of the College of Information Technology under United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) and Emirates ICT Innovation Center (EBTIC) under Khalifa University. Additionally, he is an Adjunct Professor under the Homeland Security Program at Rabdan Academy and a visiting lecturer on Cyber Security at universities such as Khalifa University and National Defense College in Abu Dhabi. Prior to his current appointments, Dr. Al Kuwaiti was with the National Electronic Security Authority in various appointment and capacity since 2013 where he was most recently Executive Director of Government Operations managing National and International government relations. He had served as the Chief Technical Analyst at the Ministry of Interior where he had held other positions, such as Operations Director and CTO of the Counter Terrorism Center. Dr. Al Kuwaiti started his 20 year-long career as a Defense, Air, and Naval Military Attaché with the Embassy of The United Arab Emirates based in Washington, D.C. Dr. Al Kuwaiti has published numerous papers and keynoted at many conferences such as IEEE, RSA, Cyber Warfare Europe, Tele Strategies, ISS World MEA, IDEX, International Anti-Cyber Crimes Conference, Future War Summit etc., He is a highly sought after speaker internationally and have provided the main keynote address for more than 50 international, regional, and national cybersecurity events such as GITEX, GISEC and the World Government Summit, and had presented the UAE Cyber Security Framework at INTERPOL Global Cyberspace and Cybercrime Complex located in Singapore. Dr. Al Kuwaiti holds a Doctorate in Computer Engineering and Network Security from George Washington University in the U.S. and a master’s degree in Telecommunications and Computer Networks. He also holds a M.A. degree in International and Civil Security. Dr. Al Kuwaiti is an honorable member of Society of Engineers, IEEE Society, Golden Key National Honor Society and Computer Society. His research interests are detecting, monitoring and responding to cyber warfare, Network Forensics, Corporate Governance & Process, and national cyber policy.