The American multinational financial services corporation, MasterCard has partnered with Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) Threat Intelligence Platform (TIP) to cement its commitment to construct intelligence-led, public-private partnerships and boost cyber resilience across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region.
The partnership will further boost MasterCard’s alliance with Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). In a continuation of the partnership under MasterCard’s Cyber Forward program, this step will help to boost cyber resilience across the financial industry and payments ecosystem.
The Cyber Forward program combines MasterCard’s cutting-edge capabilities in cybersecurity with those of leading public sector organizations to create secure digital ecosystems at a national, local and city level.
The collaboration between the DFSA, DIFC and MasterCard sets out to promote more advanced cybersecurity capabilities, including the provision of time-sensitive threat signatures and data patterns that offer indicators of attempted or actual compromise of information or physical assets. This will aid in the development of a comprehensive ‘threat library’ that will enable the DIFC and its institutions to recognize and respond to risk in real-time.
The first regulator-led platform of its kind in the region, the DFSA TIP facilitates the development of a community of information sharing for regulated and non-regulated companies operating in or from the DIFC.
Waleed Saeed Al Awadhi Acting CEO – DFSA
“Cyber resilience begins with maintaining awareness of the increasingly sophisticated techniques of cybercriminals and the persistence of their campaigns. Information is key to maintaining awareness and we welcome MasterCard’s participation on TIP and its commitment to contribute information in support of the cyber resilience of the TIP, DIFC and regional community.”
For his part, Mr. Khalid Elgibali, Division President, MENA, MasterCard stated that “Building on our strategic partnership with DIFC, we are delighted to join forces with the DFSA to foster intelligence threat sharing across the entire DIFC community. Together, we are ensuring the region’s most advanced financial hub is also its most secure.”
“MasterCard’s commitment to join the DFSA TIP deepens our relationship with them to enhance cybersecurity efforts globally. As the leading financial center in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, DIFC continues to set the standards that address both the current and anticipated issues facing the industry locally, regionally and internationally,” Mr. Arif Amiri, CEO of DIFC Authority, added.
