By Attracting Russian Experts, How Is the UAE Trying to Enhance Its Cybersecurity Capabilities?

At a time when Russia is risking its human resources and experts, who fled their homeland, many countries find an opportunity to attract Russia’s technological giants who have long experiences in the field of cybersecurity.

Intelligence Online stated that the UAE cybersecurity company, BEACON RED, owned by EDGE Group, has received a wave of cyber engineers fleeing Russia after the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

 

‘Containing Experts’

According to a report published on March 13th, 2023, it was stated that these engineers are being isolated in a separate location from the rest of the company. The Western employees of BEACON RED are increasingly concerned about the influx of large numbers of Russian cyber engineers into the company, to the point that some have left the company.

In fact, the company has witnessed a significant influx of Russian engineers who arrived in a relatively short period, especially since November 2022. For current employees of BEACON RED, there is a lot of mystery surrounding the new arrivals at the company.

The Russian engineers work in a separate location away from other employees and are not connected to any communication with the other cyber teams led by Rogerio Lemos, who previously worked at the U.S. defense company Booz Allen Hamilton, and before that, in the Emirati cyber intelligence company, DarkMatter.

On September 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization to reinforce his forces in the war in Ukraine. After that, the Minister of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev, began to vigorously fight to exempt information technology experts from military service in an attempt to protect the sector that is going through a critical stage, despite the opposition of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. However, this exemption has backfired, causing many cyber experts to flee Russia.

 

UAE as a Destination

Abu Dhabi’s use of Russian experts in the field of cyber intelligence is not only limited to that. In June 2022, Vladimir Gershenzon and his wife Olga Gershenzon, who head the leading Russian geospatial intelligence company ScanEx, fled from Moscow to Abu Dhabi. The couple received a warm welcome from Ibrahim Tayeb al-Obeidli, the Emirati geospatial intelligence expert who previously worked in the military survey administration at the Ministry of Defense.

Since then, the Gershenzons have established Innovation Floor information solutions company, which brings together some former employees of ScanEx to work on artificial intelligence programs, robots, and drawing maps of geographic locations.

With the growing economic crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the increasing role of Western sanctions and their heavy economic consequences on Moscow, the issue of mass migration of computer scientists who do not intend to live under Putin’s regime has become increasingly present. Many of them initially fled to Armenia, Georgia, and Turkiye before leaking operations began to new countries.

According to the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, a private institute for advanced research studies in Moscow founded in 2011, nearly a third of Russian companies in the information technology security sector are trying to transfer their activities and employees abroad.

Russian news agencies previously reported on December 20, 2022, that Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev said: “up to 10% of employees in information technology companies have left the country and not returned. In total, nearly 100,000 information technology specialists are abroad.”

The minister added that “many who left Russia have settled in Turkiye Georgia, Armenia, the UAE, or Central Asia, where they can continue working and receive their salaries.”

In an effort to contain the situation, Minister Shadayev recommended not imposing “strict restrictions” on remote work in the digital sector because it may drive workers to “search for opportunities in foreign companies.”

 

Maintaining the Position

Russian cybersecurity specialists are among the most sought-after in the world, as they are considered some of the most highly skilled in the sector. Many countries around the world can obtain priceless data through electronic technologies, which is why countries such as the UAE are heading in this direction.

The UAE has been focusing on building a strong technological infrastructure in the field of cybersecurity through new collaboration and partnership projects. According to reports, since 2008 and under the supervision of American intelligence agencies and cybersecurity experts, the UAE has made significant strides in electronic technologies.

On February 22, 2023, the UAE Cybersecurity Council affirmed its commitment to following the best standards and practices for secure digital transformation. They emphasized the importance of protecting digital infrastructure, which is the foundation of digital transformation, through an advanced cybersecurity system capable of safeguarding the digital space of the UAE.

The UAE is striving to accelerate its digital transformation and solidify its position as a trusted digital hub in the region.

Experts in the digital field say that several European countries are experiencing a state of “constant fire” from internet hackers following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

These cyberattacks have targeted financial institutions, arms factories, energy providers, humanitarian organizations, and tax authorities in Germany. Investigators of electronic crimes found that Russian infiltrators were behind these attacks.

The United Arab Emirates is trying to shield its government and security institutions from long-term cyberattacks. The dispersal of Russian experts following the invasion of Ukraine has created a favorable climate for attracting those who fled in search of a safe haven.

According to a report published on February 24, 2023, by the cybersecurity threat intelligence company, Recorded Future, activity on Russian-language cybercrime forums has decreased due to Russian military mobilization.

The company said the “brain drain” of Russian internet professionals was due to the recruitment of some influential actors in the threat industry, while others may be among those who have migrated to neighboring countries to avoid military conscription.

Due to Russia’s brain drain of information technology specialists, organized electronic crime cartels will probably become more decentralized geographically, causing their relationships to become more widespread.

 

‘A voracious Consumer’

The UAE uses high-precision spy programs. In 2017, The Intercept reported that the UAE is a voracious consumer of surveillance and technological control tools and frequently purchases these devices from Western countries to track its political opponents.

Reuters confirmed on January 30th, 2019 that “a team of former U.S. government intelligence operatives working for the United Arab Emirates hacked into the iPhones of activists, diplomats, and rival foreign leaders with the help of a sophisticated spying tool called Karma, in a campaign that shows how potent cyber-weapons are proliferating beyond the world’s superpowers and into the hands of smaller nations.”

“The cyber tool allowed the small Gulf country to monitor hundreds of targets beginning in 2016, from the Emir of Qatar and a senior Turkish official to a Nobel Peace laureate human-rights activist in Yemen, according to five former operatives and program documents reviewed by Reuters. The sources interviewed by Reuters were not Emirati citizens,” according to the same source.

Karma “was used by an offensive cyber operations unit in Abu Dhabi, composed of Emirati security officials and former American intelligence operatives working as contractors for the UAE’s intelligence services.”

In an article by Arsen Chakhmakhchyan, a researcher at the Iranian Studies Center (IRAM), published by Anadolu Agency on December 27, 2020, it was stated that “the UAE aims to be an active player in the region in terms of electronic power, but it is unknown how other regional countries will react to that.”

Chakhmakhchyan added that the Abu Dhabi government, which is said to be using its technological capabilities as a means of pressuring opposition elements, has focused on cyber weapons trade in cooperation with foreign countries and companies in the intelligence field.

Chakhmakhchyan pointed out that the UAE will be able to use electronic espionage techniques not only against other government or non-government actors in the region, but also around the world, where internet technologies can be used not only for security work but also for data and information gathering.

He concluded by saying that the initiative in which the UAE becomes a strategic partner in cyberspace is an important step for the UAE to acquire cyber power.

It is worth mentioning that media reports, including the Wall Street Journal, spoke of Israeli talks to sell cybersecurity systems to the UAE.

The electronic security market of the UAE was estimated at 490 million dollars in 2019.