eGovernment security and strategies for measuring eGovernment efficiency discussed on Day 4 of the 12th GCC eGovernment Forum

The forum receives a wide appreciation among the regional eGovernment leaders and key policy makers for its highly informative sessions and unforeseen participation of Global experts. Mr. Jorge Sebastiao, President & CEO, ES Gulf addressed the Forum via live webcast and it proved the capability of internet technology to break the geographical barriers.

Mr. James Archibald, Director of Translation Studies, McGill University gave the opening address of the day on 'Setting attainable e-government goals'. He also examined Canada's emergent e-government strategies during his presentation.

During his presentation he said, "Canada is fortunate to have a diverse population. Fostering the creation and preservation of local content has built Canadian excellence in this field. Canada's linguistic heritage includes English, French and Indigenous languages. We are proud of the three Canadian recipients of Tunis Summit Awards in the categories of e-government, e-inclusion and e-health. Our goal is to be known around the world as the government most connected to its citizens, with Canadians able to access all government information and services on-line at the time and place of their choosing."

Mr. Mohamad Jarrar, Managing Director, Amricon presented a session on 'Planning for IT Security for Critical and Strategic GCC eGovernment Projects'. He discussed making security an organizational priority, technology solutions and the costs, IT security: an essential ingredient in any IT system, the benefits of system development, the pros and cons of post implementation and system maintenance.

Speaking about smart document solutions, he said, "Smart Document Solution offers sensitive document protection using unique, state-of-the-art RFID technology to store critical authentication information in a highly secure yet easy to use solution. This will help us to ensure higher levels of security to the highly sensitive documents and records."

In his webcast session on "GCC eGovernment Security Challenges", Jorge Sebastio highlighted the major challenges and risks in eGovernment security in the region. He pointed out the top security challenges are; Security awareness and End Users, Unavailability of Technical skills, Mobility and access Management, Security and Privacy, social challenges and infrastructure Management.

Commenting on the e-illiteracy creating challenges to the region he said, "Uneducated users require 3 to 6 times more support than educated users over the life of a new technology and process. Due to the rapid rate of change of technologies and shortage of skilled staff most of the eGovernment projects are laying away from their actual goal."

Mohd. Nasser Ali, Head of Project and Development Dept, Census IT Project, GIS, Ministry of Economy, UAE presented a case study on the UAE eGovernment initiatives in Census 2006. In his presentation, he analysed the general architecture of UAE census application and advantages of electronic census in making accurate, timely and clean data for statistical analysis.

The session on 'Building eGovernment Trust and Confidence through Better Authentication Policies and Practices' was delivered by Dr. Hellmuth Broda, European Chief Technology Officer, Sun Microsystems Inc., Strategic Insight Office. He spoke about the key issues to consider when implementing authentication eGovernment solutions, implementing appropriate mechanisms for risk levels, considering privacy issues and liability risks and learning from best practices.

The final session of the day was presented by Mr. Salim Edde, Regional Manager, Public Sector Middle East North Africa, Cisco Systems Intl. He spoke on 'Efforts in eGovernment metrics'.

He said, "Productivity in the public sector is measured by greater efficiency, more services and lowered costs. The barriers to future productivity growth are organizational or employee issues, business process integration, technology integration and technology capability. Public services portals need to evolve from post static information to integrated government service delivery."

Speaking about the days proceedings, Ali Al Kamali, Managing Director, Datamatix Group said, "The topics discussed at the forum today are of vital importance to eGovernment developments in the region. Measuring the net outcome of eGovernment initiatives is an important activity because it is what tells us how successful or unsuccessful our efforts have been. And its points out the deficiencies in our approach."

Over the 5 days of the event, professionals including top designation executives, senior government officials, ministerial delegations, CIOs, IT managers, business leaders, analysts as well as academics from leading organizations are expected to attend the forum. It is the largest meeting ground for professionals from the regional e-Government sector and provides participants with many opportunities for networking and building business contacts.

The summit is being sponsored and supported by leading organizations like Cisco Systems, ZPF Information Technology, Datel, Computer Associates, Dubai eGovernment, Amricon, Tejari, Sun Microsystems, HP Invent, DTK Computer, Itqan, eCompany, Innokat, Hummingbird, Konica Minolta and Abu Dhabi Education Zone. The official carrier for the event is KLM SkyTeam.