- Leonardo, a global high-tech company among the first companies in the world in Aerospace, Defense and Security, and Khalifa University of Science and Technology, the first Emirate university according to the main international rankings, join forces to create a Cyber Security Academy in the United Arab Emirates. The KU Cyber Security Academy will be open to operators of companies and institutions to train new experts for the cyber protection of the UAE's national strategic assets.
Based at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, the new Academy will offer comprehensive certification and training programs in English and Arabic. It will leverage the knowledge of the context of the researchers of the Khalifa Center on Secure Cyber-Physical Systems and Leonardo's skills and technologies for the protection of digital ecosystems, as well as the experience of the Cyber & Security Academy that the company has in Italy. Precisely in Genoa, at the headquarters of Leonardo's Cyber & Security Academy, the teachers of the future UAE training center will be trained in the use of Leonardo's immersive platforms for cyber training. The partnership will further strengthen Khalifa University's academic and research programs, which already have a highly specialized training offer in science and technology.
"The agreement confirms the great attention that Leonardo and Italy give to the United Arab Emirates and the far-sighted vision of its leadership" - said the Ambassador of Italy to the United Arab Emirates Lorenzo Fanara, who took office in Abu Dhabi last month. "Cyber security is a great challenge for both our countries and Italian high-tech companies, such as Leonardo, are ready to do their part to successfully face it together by sharing skills and abilities".
“We are honored to have been selected by Khalifa University for this ambitious project - declared Tommaso Profeta, Managing Director of Leonardo's Cyber & Security Solutions Division - This initiative once again confirms Leonardo's commitment at national and supranational level for the spread of a solid culture of safety, an element of primary importance for the effective protection of critical infrastructures, essential services, citizens and countries ".
Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Executive Vice-President, Khalifa University, commented: "We are delighted to partner with Leonardo, one of the world leaders in the aerospace, defense and security sectors, to establish the KU Cyber Security Academy and help build capacity in this vital sector".
Ernesto Damiani, Director of the Center on Secure Cyber-Physical Systems, said: "Through the Cyber Security Academy, Khalifa University and Leonardo intend to contribute to the ecosystem of the UAE's National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, helping to improve the security of the Emirates by promoting an intensive and secure sharing of knowledge ". The technological heart of the KU Cyber Security Academy will be the same technological platforms, in particular the Cyber Range, developed by Leonardo and used in the Italian Cyber & Security Academy and in the world. Designed according to the principles of Gamification (i.e. by exploiting mechanisms similar to those of games, such as assigning objectives and achieving reward), Cyber Range leverages virtualization and interoperability to simulate complex immersive operational scenarios in which to put into practice, in a group or individually, the knowledge acquired, thanks to the creation of digital twins (digital twin) of networks, systems and applications to be protected, as well as threats and tools for attack and defense. Leonardo's platforms are able to support exercises with digital twins of thousands of nodes and hundreds of networks, simulating up to 5 complex scenarios simultaneously, with multiple teams and dozens of users per team.
