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Rabat – In a world that is on the brink of facing what experts call a “cyber pandemic,” transnational cooperation has never been more critical, according to Director General of Morocco’s cybersecurity unit DGSSI, Brigadier General El Mostafa Rabii.
As various cyber terrorist organizations are forming cross-border links, countries should also focus on conducting transnational cyber defense operations, and building trust, Rabii said on Tuesday during the Abraham Accords CyberTech Summit in Tel Aviv.
“Cyberthreats have no borders, I think the same goes for us, we need to get our teams to work together on concrete cases to reinforce trust, between individuals and government agencies,” he insisted.
Rabii’s remarks came during a panel discussion featuring five speakers from government cybersecurity agencies from Morocco, the UAE, the USA, and the host country Israel.
The US representative at the event, Under Secretary for Policy, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Robert Silvers, equally stressed the importance of building and reinforcing transnational cooperation on cybersecurity.
“For 2023, our challenge but also our opportunity is to scale efforts and do more with international partners,” he said, recalling the White House’s counter-ransomware initiative that involves more than 30 countries.
Under the initiative, countries are “coming together on a transnational basis to address what is a transnational threat on all angles: building resilience, disrupting the actors going after their money, and their financial and cryptocurrency, infrastructure and more, and that’s a challenge, the cross-border nature of it,” he explained.
When asked about the significant milestone in Morocco’s fight against cyber threats, Rabii said that the country will be implementing the legal framework proposed in 2020 that defines cyber threats.
For Rabbii, the move is of great importance as it will provide the necessary legal arsenal to conduct cyberdefense operations. “Thanks to this law, we now have the proper tools and capacity to properly address these threats,” he specified. 
Cybertech event in Tel Aviv
“The main target we have set in 2023 is to implement a new strategy that is in line with the new law in Morocco,” he added.
The panel discussion was part of the Cyber TechGlobal Tel Aviv 2023, an international event that brings together executives, policymakers, and officials to exchange expertise and share know-how related to scaling efforts against the rising threat of cybersecurity.
Cyberattacks and cyberwarfare are emerging as a new imminent global threat. In 2020, the World Bank placed cyberattacks as the fifth biggest global threat.
Cyberattacks especially spiked in 2020 as the spread of COVID-19 accelerated the digital transition across the world. According to data from the specialized platform Purplesec, cyberattacks grew in 2020 by 600% across the world.
Read Also: Morocco to Participate in Cybertech Global 2023 Event in Tel Aviv
