Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has won the Cyber Risk Strategy of the Year award at the Global Risk Management Awards in London.

The award was presented by The Institute of Risk Management (IRM) in the UK, a leading global organisation in setting risk management standards and recognising global best practices.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA, received the award at a ceremony held at the Park Lane Hilton hotel, London, which saw the attendance of international leaders and representatives from over 40 countries.

The ceremony was attended by Abdulrahman Ghanem Almutaiwee, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the UK, Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at DEWA, Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources at DEWA, Mohammed Abdul Kareem Al Shamsi, Senior Manager of Sustainability and Climate Change at DEWA, Ahmed Abdullah, Senior Manager of External Communications at DEWA, Senior Manager of Corporate Risk & Security Governance, and Kenneth McKeown, Manager of Enterprise Risk Management.

This is the first time that Cyber Risk Strategy has been included as part of the award, 120 companies from all over the world participated. DEWA focused on addressing increasing cyber-risks, according to the Risk Assessment Tier 1, by forming its internal Cyber Risk Taskforce to combine the skills of internal and external resources to meet deadlines. This resulted in 29 strategic and tactical recommendations, to mature DEWA’s cyber security.

DEWA established a Corporate Security Governance department to ensure sustainable corporate security, while providing a futuristic vision to solve potential cyber security issues.

"We are proud to have won this prestigious award in recognition of DEWA’s practices. DEWA has become an international role model of risk management. I would like to dedicate this award to Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, whose directives we follow to enhance Dubai’s global competitiveness and keep up with global best practices; developing innovation, technology, leadership, and sustainability. Our efforts support our strategic objectives by taking a proactive approach to risk identification and assessment, identifying priorities, and monitoring them across DEWA.

"In DEWA, we are committed to providing electricity and water services to the Emirate of Dubai to the highest standards of availability, efficiency, and reliability, and to achieve this, we are constantly examining all the possibilities and risks that may affect the operational processes or the service quality that we provide to our customers. This process is followed by implementing preventative measures and alternate plans to ensure the best results," said Al Tayer.

"In line with our vision to become a sustainable innovative world-class utility, DEWA adopts the best global practices that comply with ISO 31000 and the finest cutting-edge integrated system for enterprise risk management, as they are closely related to DEWA’s strategic planning and drive," concluded Al Tayer.

DEWA won the Commitment to Learning and Development award at the Global Risk Awards 2015, the first organisation in the Middle East and Africa to win it. In 2013, DEWA won the Global Risk Award for Building Risk Management Capability from the IRM.

Source:WAM