The recent signing in September 2020 of the so-called Abraham Agreements formalizes their relationship and marks a new stage of deepening. At the cyber level, this normalization now authorizes Israel to export cyber products and services to the UAE and to consider this territory as a platform to approach new markets in the region and beyond.
Israel, as a cyber power, has developed a specific approach to cyberspace. Based on a unique ecosystem, the national cyber strategy first focused on the protection of information systems and critical infrastructures at the beginning of the 21st century. Then, it was enriched with an economic and a political dimension - Israeli expertise in cybersecurity could contribute to weaving new relationships between State actors.
For its part, UAE are more vulnerable because of their dependence on foreign cybersecurity technologies. In a context of increased threat, they rely in particular, but not exclusively, on Israeli experience in cybersecurity. The cyber operations symbolized by Stuxnet, have convinced the UAE of Israel's credibility.
Through this presentation, we would like to be focused on three questions. How can the definition and management of the cyber risk could introduce a geopolitical renewal?
How does Israel strengthen its digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy through the deployment of a cyber strategy, based on the export of cyber products and inter-state cooperation? How does the UAE rely on the Israeli experience in cyberspace to deepen its digital sovereignty?
Answering these questions imply questioning the scope, intensity and limits of the relationship between Israel and the UAE at the cyber level, through the prism of cooperation, and to look at its new configuration.
Oscillating between unofficial cooperation and normalization of interstate relations in the Gulf, the Israeli experience in cybersecurity shared with Abu Dhabi could be the prelude to a much larger participation on a regional scale.
Mots clés : Geopolitics|Digital geographies|cyber|Israel|UAE
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