Running head: Enhancing the Quality of Smart Government Services in Dubai 1

Enhancing the Quality of Smart Government Services in Dubai

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Enhancing the Quality of Smart Government Services in Dubai 2

Enhancing the Quality of Smart Government Services in Dubai

Introduction

Smart Dubai is an initiative launched by the Dubai Government in accordance with

the UAE Vision 2021. The aim of the project is to transform Dubai into a smart city to

improve resident’s quality of life. Smart Dubai has several departments, one of which is

Smart Dubai Gov. The main objective of Smart Dubai Gov is to transform the way the

government transacts its business and provides its services to the residents of Dubai (Salem

2016). Several government functions have been moved online. Most business with the

government is conducted online and through mobile phone applications. Despite the

successes achieved in the Smart Dubai Gov so far, there are still challenges hindering the

advancement of the project. The most serious challenge is that of information and cyber

security. The high levels of technology integration in the lives of Dubai residents means that

each individual has a lot of important and personal information online. Connectivity between

personal identification information, government records and financial services providers such

as banks means that there are an ever increasing ways through which criminals can

compromise resident’s information.

Motivation

The need for smart government services was initially recognized in 2007. There was a

distinct gap between the capabilities and resources of the private sector and the government

in terms of levels of technology and capabilities (Salem 2016). The government launched

UAE Vision 2021, as a development initiative. However, in order to improve service delivery

and overall quality of life for the city’s residents, societal acceptance of technology was

required, as well as substantial investment in information and communication infrastructure.

A number of initiatives have been launched by the government of Dubai in an effort

to close the gap between private sector technology levels and government levels of
Enhancing the Quality of Smart Government Services in Dubai 3

technology. One of the most successful projects is the Dubai Electronic Government

Initiative (DSG 2017, Salem 2016). Presently, this initiative has led o over 95 of government

services going online. These were considered to be eServices. In 2013, mServices were

launched, with the objective of increasing the reach of delivering government services.

According to Salem (2016), these services took advantage of the high rates of mobile use,

which currently stand at 260% to deliver government services through development of

mobile applications that anyone can access.

Due to the above initiatives and others, Dubai is now well on its way to becoming

fully integrated smart city. Government policies and operations have assimilated technology

as an inseparable part of service provision (DSG 2017). From filing tax returns to police

reports, almost everything is online. The technological advancement of the government has

inevitably led to the integration of government services with other private sectors, such as

banks, insurance providers, businesses, foreign government embassies, communications

companies, hospitals, and many others (DSG 2017). The advantages are clear. Such

integration provides seamless service provision. For example, activities such a buying land

are no longer bureaucratic nightmares. Paying for medical care no longer involves filling out

numerous forms and several visits to insurance providers. The city residents’ lives are made

much easier.

But with all this technological growth, the threat of hackers grows with it. Cyber

attacks on Dubai’s government are increasing at a very high rate (Hasbini 2014). In fact, the

UAE is now the second most targeted country in the world by cybercriminals after the United

States (Cherrayil 2016). In 2014, attacks against the government itself and government

facilities increased fourfold (Hasbini 2014, Rogers 2017). The increase in cyber attacks and

their dynamic nature makes cyber defence a priority for the UAE government

Project details
Enhancing the Quality of Smart Government Services in Dubai 4

The project proposes an analysis of current measures of cyber protection in all sectors

of business, including the government in an attempt to identify any challenges that stifle

advancements in this area. Additionally, the project will seek to find gaps between private

and public sectors that allow for cyber criminals to operate. Following the previous pattern of

a gap between public and private levels of technology (Salem 2016), it is vital to ensure that

such a gap does not still exist. If it exists, it means that cyber criminals can potentially access

individuals’ private and sensitive information through the less protected government systems.

In such an undertaking, the first step must be to bring together relevant stakeholders

to investigate the issue and probe possible solutions with the goal of developing laws,

regulations and policies on how best to deal with cyber crime. Furthermore, a frank and open

discussion on the effect of cybercrime on businesses will create an awareness of the

government’s need for security apparatus and prompt developers of cyber-defence to develop

hardware and technologies that deal with this issue.

A number of challenges are apparent in moving towards this direction. The first is in

quantifying the true extent of cybercrime in the private sector. Unsurprisingly, companies and

organizations are reluctant to provide information on incursions into their systems. This

stems from the perception that admitting they have been victims of cyber attacks will make

them appear inefficient, which will lead to a significant loss of clients. It is not an unfounded

fear. Yahoo Inc. faced a number of devastating hacks that forced them into insolvency and

eventual acquisition by Verizon. If cyber crime can bring down a business that is heavily

dependent on cyber-defence, it is imperative that companies find a solution as fast as

possible.

Deliverables

There will be three areas on which deliverables will be expected on this project. The

first is gathering evidence of a technological gap between government systems and the
Enhancing the Quality of Smart Government Services in Dubai 5

private sector. If such a gap exists, it may be the reason why cyber criminals prefer to target

the government. This leads to the second area, which is to collect evidence of cyber

criminals’ use of this gap. The last area will be an attempt to quantify the cost of such cyber

attacks on the government, the private sector and the economy.

Conclusion

The rapid technological advancement of Dubai to develop a smart city has led to a

number of security challenges. Such an integrated system is especially attractive to cyber

criminals. This is because when everything is connected, they can more easily gather

information from various databases with less effort. It takes less effort to illegally access one

system than to access various systems with different cyber defence protocols. The growing

number of cyber attacks on the government means that cyber criminals have identified the

government systems as the most vulnerable. Significant disruption in the government’s

service delivery has the potential to be costly in terms of time and money. The solution is to

initiate talks and discussions on cyber security. By doing so, the government and other

relevant stakeholders can find long lasting solutions to cyber crime and increase the quality of

Smart Government services to the residents of Dubai.

Enhancing the Quality of Smart Government Services in Dubai 6

References

Cherrayil, N. (2016). Cybercrime cost UAE Dh5.14b this year. GulfNews. Retrieved 2 April

2017, from http://gulfnews.com/business/sectors/technology/cybercrime-cost-uae-

dh5-14b-this-year-1.1933736

DSG,. (2017). Facts & Figures. Dsg.gov.ae. Retrieved 2 April 2017, from

http://www.dsg.gov.ae/en/OurPublications/Pages/FactsFigures.aspx

Hasbini, M. (2014). The Rise of Cybercrime in Dubai and UAE. Securelist.com. Retrieved 2

April 2017, from https://securelist.com/blog/research/63682/the-rise-of-cybercrime-

in-dubai-and-uae/

Rogers, J. (2017). Cybercrime in the UAE: Watch the Emirates get hacked in real time.

What's On Dubai. Retrieved 2 April 2017, from

http://whatson.ae/dubai/2016/04/watch-the-uae-get-hacked-in-real-time-2/

Salem, F. (2016). A Smart City for Public Value: Digital Transformation through Agile

Governance – The Case of “Smart Dubai”. Dubai: Governance and Innovation

Program, Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government, World Government

Summit.