An information security think tank initiative (ISTT) was launched on Tuesday evening with an aim to shed light on internet and information technology threats, and increase the level of awareness among professionals and society as a whole of how best to combat these threats.

According to Moatassem-Bellah Kaddah, executive manager of the Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Center (RITSEC), there are a few experts in the field of information security in Egypt, and the initiative is one way to gather them in one place. "Round table discussions will be held with the participation of experts in order to come up with a number of recommendations that can help decision makers in fighting information security threats," he said.

"There were more than 300,000 complaints of internet attacks reported in the United States in 2010," said Adel Abdel-Moneim, Raya Academy's general manager. Although only 25 per cent of people in the US report the attacks, he added, the resulting financial losses are estimated at $559.7 million according to the internet crime complaint center.

The situation in Egypt, according to Abdel-Moneim, is much worse. "Internet and information technology usage is growing significantly in Egypt, but awareness of information security threats is limited," he noted, adding that the rate of internet threat infections in Egypt is four times higher than normal elsewhere. Internet threats include viruses, malwares, spyware and many others. "Technological advances that are designed to fight these threats, including software programming, are not effective with the lack of awareness about different types of internet attacks," Abdel-Moneim stressed.

"ISTT will design workshops specifically to create a culture of information security among professionals and anyone interested in this field," said Yousry Zaki, co-founder of ISTT.

The growing number of internet services provided by the government and private organizations such as e-commerce, prompted us to think about this initiative, he said.