DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Dubai official says as the city races toward a future of self-driving cars and drones filling up its skies, cybersecurity is becoming a growing concern.

Amer Sharaf, the director of compliance at the Dubai Electronic Security Center, gave a rare interview on Wednesday outlining the goals of his still-nascent agency in protecting the sheikhdom.

Sharaf says Dubai's government has faced email phishing scams and other small-scale incidents affecting its networks.

He said it's on high alert following Saudi Arabia being hit by Shamoon 2 , a new variant of a computer virus that destroyed systems of the kingdom's state-run oil company in 2012. The emirate was not infected by it.

Sharaf spoke to journalists after giving an address at OPCDE, a cybersecurity conference being held in Dubai this week.