Israel, UAE, and Bahrain hold a public conference in Manama on Iran's cyber threats

Shafaq News/ Israel, the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco have held meetings to discuss establishing a joint cyber defense platform, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

Representatives of the four nations held a series of meetings to discuss the issue that comes amid increased threats from Iranian hackers.

Although the four parties have been holding various meetings behind closed doors since the Abraham Accords were signed in late 2020, a statement by the Israeli government said that this was the first time that senior officials from all four countries appeared together live in public.

Part of the statement also noted that cyber chiefs from Oman and Kuwait, two countries often mentioned on the short list of potential new additions to the accords, also attended the same conference

“This is a historic meeting. a statement by the parties regarding cooperation in the cyber field against common enemies,” Gaby Portnoy, the head of the Israel National Cyber Directorate tells Kan, calling it a “cyber Iron Dome.”

Portnoy said that Israel could employ using a mix of physical sensors with digital capabilities to “bring an awareness of the big picture to deal with our enemies and our attackers, using all of our assets and figuring out how to protect them.”

This latest conference in Bahrain appears to be taking the joint cyber initiatives forward, though it is unclear if and when countries like Oman and Kuwait will join up more actively.