By GulfInside | Abu Dhabi | October 21, 2026
The UAE’s Cyber Security Council says national cyber defences have detected and countered nearly 750,000 attempted cyberattacks over a recent period, underscoring the pressure facing essential services and public institutions.
The council’s statement, reported by the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on October 20, identified energy and education among the sectors facing significant threats. It described an evolving mix of conventional attacks and techniques enhanced by artificial intelligence.
What kinds of attacks were detected?
According to the council, the attempted attacks included remote code execution, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) incidents, phishing and other advanced threats. Remote code execution attempts seek to make systems run unauthorised instructions; DDoS attacks try to overwhelm online services with traffic; and phishing attempts to trick people into disclosing credentials or taking harmful actions.
These are different methods and should not be treated as interchangeable. The figure of roughly 750,000 refers to attempted attacks detected and countered, not a confirmed count of successful breaches or victims.
Why energy and education matter
Energy infrastructure underpins everyday services, while schools and universities hold extensive information and rely on digital platforms. Disruption to either sector can affect people well beyond a single organisation.
The council said it continues to strengthen monitoring, response and cooperation to improve the country’s resilience. The statement did not provide a public list of individual institutions affected or a complete breakdown of attacks by emirate.
What residents and businesses can do
Organisations should keep software updated, limit administrative access, enable multifactor authentication and test backups. Individuals can reduce phishing risks by checking senders carefully and avoiding unexpected links requesting passwords or one-time codes.
Any suspected incident should be reported through the relevant organisation’s security channels and applicable UAE authorities.
For practical account-level steps, use our WhatsApp security checklist and Gmail recovery guide. These explain verification, unfamiliar sessions and recovery checks for individuals.
Frequently asked questions
Were 750,000 UAE systems hacked?
No. The reported figure concerns attack attempts that national systems detected and countered, not successful intrusions.
Which sectors were highlighted?
The Cyber Security Council identified energy and education among the important targeted sectors.
Does the figure include phishing?
Yes. Phishing was one of several attack types mentioned in the council’s statement.
