Shieldworkz featured in Arabian Business

Abu Dhabi - May 17, 2025

Shieldworkz is honoured to be named in national media coverage for its strategic technical role in the development of the UAE Cybersecurity Council’s first national Drone Cybersecurity Guidelines. The Guidelines were developed in collaboration with Reach Digital and Shieldworkz, and represent a decisive step toward securing the country’s rapidly expanding unmanned aerial systems (UAS) ecosystem.

Executive summary

The UAE Cybersecurity Council (CSC) has released the nation’s inaugural Drone Cybersecurity Guidelines to help protect drone hardware, communications, software and associated services across government, commercial and industrial use cases. Shieldworkz contributed specialist expertise in operational technology (OT), Internet of Things (IoT) and drone protection to ensure the guidance is both technically rigorous and operationally practical.

Why this matters

As drone deployments scale - in logistics, environmental monitoring, infrastructure inspection and more - cybersecurity becomes a core safety and continuity requirement rather than just an IT concern. The Guidelines establish a national baseline to protect airspace, infrastructure and sensitive data while enabling responsible innovation and commercial adoption.

Abu Dhabi - May 17, 2025

Executive summary

Why this matters

Shieldworkz contribution

Shieldworkz provided targeted, implementable recommendations across the drone lifecycle, including:

Threat-informed risk assessments tailored to UAV architectures (firmware, telemetry, ground stations, cloud integrations).

Controls to protect safety-critical subsystems and reduce attack surface across OT and IoT components.

Monitoring and detection approaches designed to identify telemetry anomalies and supply-chain compromises.

Operational playbooks and lifecycle processes for secure design, deployment, maintenance and decommissioning.

These inputs were designed to be pragmatic for manufacturers, integrators and operators - balancing security depth with real-world operational constraints.

Shieldworkz contribution

Shieldworkz provided targeted, implementable recommendations across the drone lifecycle, including:

Threat-informed risk assessments tailored to UAV architectures (firmware, telemetry, ground stations, cloud integrations).

Controls to protect safety-critical subsystems and reduce attack surface across OT and IoT components.

Monitoring and detection approaches designed to identify telemetry anomalies and supply-chain compromises.

Operational playbooks and lifecycle processes for secure design, deployment, maintenance and decommissioning.

These inputs were designed to be pragmatic for manufacturers, integrators and operators - balancing security depth with real-world operational constraints.

What organisations should do next

Organisations that design, buy, operate or regulate drones should treat the Guidelines as the minimum security baseline and take the following practical steps:

Adopt the Guidelines as the baseline for procurement, integration and operations.

Conduct detailed, threat-informed risk assessments that map hardware, software and communications flows.

Embed secure-by-design practices and robust supply-chain vetting during development.

Deploy continuous monitoring focused on telemetry, C2 channels and firmware integrity.

Build and exercise incident response playbooks that specifically address UAS scenarios.

Partner with OT/IoT security specialists where in-house capability gaps exist.

What organisations should do next

Organisations that design, buy, operate or regulate drones should treat the Guidelines as the minimum security baseline and take the following practical steps:

Adopt the Guidelines as the baseline for procurement, integration and operations.

Conduct detailed, threat-informed risk assessments that map hardware, software and communications flows.

Embed secure-by-design practices and robust supply-chain vetting during development.

Deploy continuous monitoring focused on telemetry, C2 channels and firmware integrity.

Build and exercise incident response playbooks that specifically address UAS scenarios.

Partner with OT/IoT security specialists where in-house capability gaps exist.

Leadership remarks

The CSC’s guidance underscores the UAE’s commitment to secure, innovation-led growth for emerging technologies. Shieldworkz welcomes the collaborative approach taken with Reach Digital and other stakeholders, and remains committed to helping organisations convert the Guidelines into technical controls, monitoring capabilities and tested operational processes.

About Shieldworkz

Shieldworkz specialises in protecting operational technology (OT) and Internet of Things (IoT) environments, with a particular focus on aerial systems and safety-critical infrastructure. We help public- and private-sector organisations identify risk, design resilient architectures, and implement monitoring and response capabilities tailored to complex, connected systems.