UAE Official: ‘Law Enforcement Needs To Be In the Metaverse’

Major Hamad Khatir, director of the UAE’s Ministry of Interior’s International Operations Department, said during the Security Alliance Virtual Exercise (ISALEX 2.0) that members of law enforcement should be present in the virtual world.

Following the success of the ISALEX 2.0, the first of its kind security training exercise in the metaverse, Major Khatir said that law enforcement needs to be involved in the metaverse more.

Law enforcement will need to be—and they have to be—in the metaverse. In the future, there will be a lot of things on the metaverse, and law enforcement will need to be ready for those challenges.

This is related to today’s trend where threat actors continue to become sophisticated with their operations, especially in the cyber and virtual space. The UAE official also stressed that the nation is equipped with advanced technology to combat these threats.

“We are a step ahead of the criminals,” said Khatir. “We can have the exercise and differences of different locations without getting interrupted. If we have this exercise, every night, we’d need to shut down the airport to let [ISALEX members] come.”

Earlier, the UAE Ministry of Interior hosted the ISALEX 2.0 during the Dubai Expo 2020. The event gathered police and security officials from the International Security Alliance (ISA) member countries to participate in a three-day training exercise within the metaverse.

Fifty security experts from nine ISA member states, consisting of crisis response teams, cybersecurity officials, and drone experts, gathered in an “operations room” in the Fazaa pavilion. The officials dealt with various security threats, including drone and cybersecurity attacks.

According to Major Khatir, this unique experience aids “international work and coordination by investing in modern technologies” in addressing real-world security threats of the present century.

Major Khatir also anticipates that ISALEX can be a blueprint for officials from non-ISA member states, especially since society is going towards digitalization and virtualization.

While more companies like Meta and Ralph Lauren are racing to settle in the virtual world, experts continue to warn users of potential dangers within the metaverse.