Security Advisor Middle East | Issue 99

ISSUE 99 | OCTOBER 2025

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THE NEW BLUEPRINT FOR RESILIENCE COMMVAULT’S FADY RICHMANY ON HOW AI, MULTI-CLOUD COMPLEXITY, AND EVOLVING THREATS ARE REDEFINING CYBER RESILIENCE FOR ENTERPRISES IN A DIGITAL-FIRST WORLD

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CISO50 and Future Security Awards focus on excellence in innovation and leadership

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SANS strengthens Gulf cybersecurity skills through immersive training, AI-driven learning

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VAD Technologies, CyberX join forces to strengthen people-centric cybersecurity across GCC

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Citrix redefines secure access for hybrid era

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CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS MONTH, GITEX GLOBAL 2025: FROM AWARENESS TO ACTION

O Talk to us: E-mail: sandhya.dmello@ cpimediagroup.com

Sandhya DMello Editor

ctober has always been a defining

resilience as a journey from continuity to

month for the cybersecurity

continuous business—where organisations

ecosystem—and this year, the

don’t just survive disruption but thrive

timing couldn’t be more powerful. As GITEX

through it. Complementing this is an array

Global 2025 brings the world’s technology

of features highlighting innovation across

visionaries together in Dubai, it converges

the region: Kaspersky’s training for women

seamlessly with Cybersecurity Awareness

in cybersecurity, Pure Storage’s resilience

Month, setting the stage for a collective

breakthroughs, Veeam’s ransomware

message that’s impossible to ignore:

insights, and Akamai’s World Tour Dubai,

resilience begins with awareness, but it

where leaders reaffirmed that security is the

succeeds through action.

In this special issue of Security Advisor Middle East, we spotlight how EVENTS

AWARENESS. ACTION. RESILIENCE. LEADERSHIP.

As global enterprises race toward digital maturity, the UAE stands

enterprises, educators, and innovators are

tall at the crossroads of trust, innovation,

elevating cybersecurity from a technical

and transformation. GITEX 2025 amplifies

function to a strategic imperative. From

this leadership—where cutting-edge AI

Fortinet’s deployment at Dubai English

meets secure architecture, and awareness

Speaking School and Futurex’s encryption

extends beyond campaigns into boardrooms,

partnership with Spire Solutions, to

classrooms, and communities.

Forcepoint’s AI-native DSPM launch and

To every CISO, engineer, policymaker, and

Rapid7’s local expansion in the UAE, the

student—this month is a reminder that cyber

stories in this edition underscore a shared

awareness is no longer a checkbox; it’s a

mission—to secure data, empower people,

culture. It’s about the choices we make every

and build confidence in an AI-driven digital

day: the link we don’t click, the policy we

economy.

update, the colleague we train. Together, we

Our cover story features Fady Richmany of Commvault, who redefines cyber

move from awareness to resilience, and from resilience to leadership.

FOUNDER, CPI Dominic De Sousa (1959-2015)

ADVERTISING Group Publishing Director Kausar Syed kausar.syed@cpimediagroup.com

cornerstone of progress.

EDITORIAL Editor Sandhya DMello sandhya.dmello@cpimediagroup.com

Published by

PRODUCTION AND DESIGN Designer Prajith Payyapilly prajith.payyapilly@cpimediagroup.com

DIGITAL SERVICES Web Developer Adarsh Snehajan webmaster@cpimediagroup.com

Publication licensed by Dubai Production City, DCCA PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 5682993

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© Copyright 2025 CPI All rights reserved While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

NEWS

AKAMAI WORLD TOUR DUBAI CHAMPIONS AI AND CYBERSECURITY FOR MIDDLE EAST

L to R – Natalie Billingham, Senior Vice President EMEA Sales and Channels & Managing Director EMEA Akamai Technologies; Dr. Tom Leighton, Co-founder and CEO of Akamai Technologies; Andrea Multari, Vice President Cyber Defense, CPX; Rajeev Nair, Chief Delivery Officer Core42; Muhammad Khalid, CEO and Founder of AIREV

Akamai Technologies, Inc., the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects businesses online, hosted the Akamai World Tour – Dubai Edition at The Theatre of Digital Art (TODA). The one-day event served as the Middle East’s flagship stop on the global tour, convening government officials, technology executives, and cybersecurity experts to discuss the future of digital innovation and protection.

The event spotlighted the growing interdependence between artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, and cloud computing, with sessions exploring realtime threat protection, edge scalability, AI governance, and data sovereignty.

Case studies from regional enterprises provided practical insights into securing AI applications and ensuring compliance with local regulations.

Cybersecurity — foundation for national growth In his opening address, H.E. Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cybersecurity at the UAE Cybersecurity Council, underscored

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the central role of cybersecurity in the nation’s digital transformation.

“In our interconnected and networked world, cybersecurity is no longer merely a technical option but a vital necessity, as protecting information, infrastructure, and digital trust has become a decisive factor in maintaining stability and economic progress,” said Dr Al Kuwaiti.

He emphasised that collaboration across public and private sectors, as well as between local and international partners, is essential to building resilience and enabling innovation.

Empowering the region’s digital ambitions Dr Tom Leighton, Co-founder and CEO of Akamai Technologies, outlined the UAE’s leadership in shaping the Middle East’s digital future during his presentation, Building Tomorrow: Secure Foundations to Accelerate Growth.

“Digital technology holds incredible promise for improving the social and economic life of the UAE and the wider Middle East region,” said Dr Leighton.

“However, challenges remain — from harnessing the true potential of agentic AI to countering AI-empowered cybercriminals. Akamai is uniquely positioned to help organisations in the Middle East overcome these challenges and realise their full potential.”

Other speakers included Husam Osman, Director of ICT Technical Solutions at du, who shared insights on Accelerating Innovation with Cloud and AI Sovereignty, and Dayle Carden, Senior Advisor at the UAE–US Business Council, who discussed the role of public– private partnerships in advancing cyber innovation.

Driving collaboration for AI and cloud innovation Interactive panels and networking sessions featured representatives from ARADA, Equiti Group, Network International, and Kerzner International, who discussed secure AI scaling through trusted digital infrastructure.

A separate session with CPX, AIREV, and Core42 (a G42 company) examined

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the importance of sovereign cloud and AI foundations for regional enterprises.

“At Core42, we believe the future of AI transformation depends on building secure, sovereign, and scalable foundations,” said Rajeev Nair, Chief Delivery Officer at Core42. “As part of

the G42 ecosystem, we are committed to empowering enterprises and nations with sovereign AI infrastructure and managed services, enabling them to accelerate their ambitions while safeguarding their data assets.”

Dubai continues to position itself as

a leading hub for AI, cybersecurity, and cloud innovation. The Akamai World Tour – Dubai Edition showcased how the UAE’s security-first infrastructure and forwardlooking policies are shaping a resilient and technologically advanced digital economy.

FUTUREX, SPIRE SOLUTIONS TEAM UP TO DELIVER ENTERPRISE ENCRYPTION ACROSS MEA Futurex, a global leader in enterprisegrade data encryption solutions, has announced its partnership with Spire Solutions, MEA’s trusted partner for cybersecurity, cloud, data and AI solutions, and leading value-added distributor (VAD), to accelerate enterprise access to advanced encryption, key management, and data protection solutions.

Through this collaboration, Futurex’s industry-leading solutions, combined with Spire Solutions’ extensive regional presence and technical expertise, will help enterprises meet the growing demand for compliance-driven, scalable, and future-ready cybersecurity solutions across banking, government, telecom, and large enterprises.

The Middle East cybersecurity market is projected to grow from USD 16.75 billion in 2025 to USD 26.04 billion by 2030, driven by rapid digital adoption and strengthened by regional initiatives such as Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, Kuwait’s Vision 2035, and the UAE’s National Cybersecurity Strategy.

John Doley, VP Sales – Middle East, Futurex said, “Futurex has made significant investments in building a local presence, partnerships, and data center availability in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Teaming up with Spire Solutions gives us an added advantage, allowing our worldclass encryption and key management solutions to reach Middle Eastern enterprises with the support of local expertise and extensive regional reach.

With enterprises demanding faster, more

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(L-R) Syed Quadri, Chief Operating Officer, Spire Solutions and John Doley, VP Sales – Middle East, Futurex scalable, and compliance-ready security solutions, we help organizations secure their data, accelerate cloud adoption, and thrive in one of the world’s fastestgrowing cybersecurity markets.”

Futurex’s unified data protection platform, CryptoHub, is the fastest and most scalable solution in the world, designed to go beyond traditional HSMs. Unlike other industry offerings that cobble together multiple crypto functions via acquisitions, Futurex’s cloud-ready CryptoHub solutions removing complexity and cost while accelerating enterprise cloud adoption and compliance. By bringing our cloud HSMs into the region, we enable customers to meet strict data sovereignty requirements, boost performance by reducing latency, and while reducing the cost and overhead of owning and maintaining standalone solutions — all while accelerating secure enterprise cloud adoption.

“Digital transformation in the Middle East is accelerating, and enterprises can’t afford to compromise on security,” said Syed Quadri, Chief Operating Officer, Spire Solutions. “We are proud of this partnership with Futurex which brings cutting-edge encryption and key management solutions to the region.

It not only meets today’s compliance and data sovereignty requirements but also prepares enterprises for future challenges, from post-quantum cryptography to accelerated cloud adoption. Together, we are strengthening the region’s cybersecurity ecosystem, empowering organizations to operate securely, confidently, and at scale while setting a new standard for protecting their valuable data.”

The region’s cybersecurity landscape is transforming rapidly to meet the needs of modern enterprises, driven by stringent compliance and data sovereignty

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requirements under frameworks such as Saudi Arabia’s SAMA Cybersecurity Framework, the UAE’s NESA guidelines, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL). In the Middle East, compliance mandates, cloud adoption, and rising FinTech demands are accelerating the need for BYOK, HYOK, and HSM-as-a-Service. At Futurex, we see the region moving beyond

traditional security to embrace forwardlooking encryption strategies that address today’s threats while preparing for the post-quantum future.

Organizations are also facing increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, including nation-state and financial cyberattacks, highlighting the need for post-quantum cryptography to futureproof cybersecurity strategies.

By introducing the Futurex’s CryptoHub platform and a suite of scalable, compliance-ready security solutions across the region, the aim is to accelerate Futurex’s growth, empower customers to implement secure and future-ready technologies, and, together with Spire Solutions, strengthen the position as market leaders in delivering trusted cybersecurity innovation.

RAPID7 ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC EXPANSION INTO THE UAE TO SUPPORT REGION’S CYBERSECURITY GROWTH AND DIGITAL VISION Rapid7, Inc., a global leader in threat detection and exposure management, announced the launch of its new local entity and local instance of its platform in the UAE, marking a significant strategic investment in the region. This expansion reinforces Rapid7’s long-term commitment to the UAE’s government, businesses, and partner ecosystem to support the nation’s digital transformation and cyber resilience goals.

Rapid7 has already delivered on its promise to invest in the region and build trusted, locally-aligned capabilities. The company recently achieved DESC certification, meeting the rigorous security standards to support government entities and other regulated industries with digital transformation projects. In addition, Rapid7 has opened an office in Dubai, acknowledging that the UAE cybersecurity market is projected to reach $4.51 billion by the end of 2025* and that cybersecurity is a national priority for the UAE government. Rapid7 aims to provide localised support for organisations that are focused on developing security programs to protect critical digital infrastructure in the region.

“Dubai is a hub for innovation, thanks to its strategic investments in digital infrastructure, supportive government policies, and a comprehensive ecosystem

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Corey Thomas, CEO of Rapid7 of tech hubs. Cybersecurity is a vital component in enabling those initiatives,” said Corey Thomas, CEO of Rapid7.

“Establishing a UAE entity and data sovereignty demonstrates Rapid7’s commitment to the region’s cyber vision.

Our investment in dedicated cloud infrastructure enables organisations in the UAE and the Gulf to access our world-class cybersecurity platform. We look forward to building partnerships with local businesses and governments to better protect the UAE’s digital future.”

Trusted partnership, local commitment Data sovereignty is both a strategic imperative and a regulatory expectation with the UAE. Rapid7 is proud to have already achieved certification from the Dubai Electronic Security Center (DESC).

DESC provides a critical framework for managing cyber risks and ensuring that government entities and organisations operating in the UAE uphold the highest standards of cybersecurity.

Rapid7’s compliance with this framework, and the operation of a local instance, demonstrates a firm commitment to supporting the UAE’s national cybersecurity priorities.

This enables Rapid7 customers to meet regulatory requirements with confidence while keeping their data securely within national borders.

“Data sovereignty is a critical national issue. Rapid7’s establishment of a local presence in the UAE shows its commitment to regional priorities and support for local data policies. It sends a clear message that Rapid7 is dedicated to enabling secure digital growth on local terms,” said Nasar Saddiq, Regional Manager, Middle East and Africa at Rapid7. “For Rapid7, it’s not just setting up an office, we’re continuing our foundation of trust, partnership, and shared success.”

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Excellence in exposure management As part of this launch, Rapid7 will deliver Exposure Command, an attack surface visibility solution, helping organisations across the UAE manage vulnerabilities, applications, and cloud security. Rapid7 has received several recognitions for this offering, including the recent placement of Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Exposure Management 2025 Vendor Assessment and Strong Performer in the 2025 Forrester Wave™ for Unified Vulnerability Management (UVM). These recognitions demonstrate Rapid7’s ability to provide organisations with visibility, prioritisation, remediation,

and response to ensure a robust security posture.

“Our platform provides clarity, speed, and insight in the moments that matter most,” said David Howorth, EMEA General Manager at Rapid7. “As the UAE’s digital economy grows, so too must the security programs that support it. We are committed to helping companies of all sizes navigate this new era securely and confidently.”

Rapid7’s “Secure the Attack Surface” approach is uniquely suited to support the UAE’s transformation by offering: • Context-driven visibility across complex digital environments

• Cost-effective risk reduction through automation and managed services • Scalable, localised support aligned with regional compliance standards • Proactive threat prevention backed by global threat intelligence Rapid7 at GITEX 2025 GITEX Global 2025 is the premier exhibition showcasing tech innovation within the UAE. Corey Thomas will attend and present at GITEX in the Dubai World Trade Center on October 15 in the Cybersecurity theatre discussing ‘Cybersecurity, AI, and the Business of Trust.’

CLOUDERA TO SHOWCASE FUTURE OF ENTERPRISE AI AND HYBRID DATA AT GITEX 2025 Cloudera, the only data and AI platform trusted by organizations to bring AI to their data, is making its return to GITEX Global 2025, the Middle East’s premier technology showcase.

Highlighting the role of AI in driving smarter cities, more efficient healthcare, and innovative financial and energy solutions, Cloudera will demonstrate how organizations across the UAE are building trusted data foundations to unlock the full potential of AI responsibly. During the event, Cloudera will also unveil key UAE insights from its latest research on Enterprise AI, featuring perspectives from IT leaders in the UAE. At the event, Cloudera will demonstrate how enterprises can adopt secure and trusted AI by unifying data across public clouds, private data centers, and the edge. Based on its open-source roots and leadership in big data, Cloudera empowers organizations to modernize data strategies, enhance governance, and make smarter, datadriven decisions.

AI at the Speed of Data Visitors to GITEX 2025 will experience Cloudera’s vision for the next

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clouds at the lowest cost, with the ability to scale to exabyte-level data management.

• Enable Modern Data Architectures – Break down silos by making data mesh and fabric a reality, supporting BI, ML, generative AI, and streaming workloads on the same unified platform without costly rework.

These capabilities reflect Cloudera’s mission to make data and analytics accessible for everyone, helping enterprises in every industry innovate and thrive in today’s digital economy.

phase of enterprise AI. Through live demonstrations and executive discussions, the company will show how organizations can: • Accelerate Enterprise AI – Reduce time-to-market with pre-built AI accelerators, bring any model directly to data, and create proprietary insights while maintaining complete security and compliance.

• Deliver True Hybrid – Run analytics seamlessly across private and public

Enterprise AI in the UAE As part of its presence at GITEX, Cloudera will also unveil key insights from its latest global research, “The State of Enterprise AI and Data Architecture.” The study highlights how UAE enterprises are actively embracing AI, but they face challenges related to compliance, governance, and the cost of integration. At the same time, hybrid data architectures are emerging as a trusted foundation for scaling AI securely and effectively.

These findings provide important context for the conversations Cloudera

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will drive at GITEX 2025, underscoring the urgency for enterprises to balance innovation with responsibility as they embrace new forms of AI. “GITEX is one of the world’s most influential technology events, and Cloudera is proud to be at the forefront of shaping the future of enterprise AI. Enterprises in the UAE and across the

region are at a pivotal moment in their AI journey. At GITEX, we will highlight how organisations can take back control of their data, innovate responsibly, and unlock measurable business value with a secure, unified approach,” said Ahmad Shakora, Group Vice President, Cloudera Middle East Cloudera invites media, partners,

and enterprises to visit its booth, Hall 9 - A10, at GITEX Global 2025 to explore live demonstrations of its platform that accelerate enterprise AI, engage with executive leaders and experts on the future of hybrid data and AI, and gain valuable insights into regional and global trends driving AI adoption and enterprise priorities in the UAE.

KASPERSKY STRENGTHENS CLOUD PROTECTION WITH NEW CLOUD WORKLOAD SECURITY UPDATE Kaspersky, together with Smart Africa and Africaines in Tech, has launched an innovative, sciencebacked career orientation test “Future You in Tech” created to promote professional development for young women in the cybersecurity industry and help remove potential entry barriers.

The test is designed to help them discover which career paths best align with their interests, skills, and personality.

The IT industry continues to face a significant gender imbalance. While technology is one of the fastestgrowing fields shaping the global future, women remain underrepresented due to systemic barriers such as stereotypes and unequal workplace opportunities.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2024, women make up only 28.2% of the global STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) workforce. With this new initiative, Kaspersky and its partners aim to lower these barriers by sparking interest, building awareness, and offering guidance to the next generation of women in cybersecurity.

The orientation test is designed to help young women discover which cybersecurity career paths best align with their interests, skills, personality, and values. The test guides participants through scenarios that reveal their

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natural problem-solving styles and strengths. Once completed, the results highlight each participant’s top two matches out of six possible cybersecurity roles. The six cybersecurity paths covered in the test are: • Threat Intelligence — analysing cybercriminal groups and predicting their next moves.

• Security Operations (SOC) — monitoring systems, detecting threats, and responding to incidents.

• Malware Analysis — reverseengineering malicious code and creating detection rules.

• Network Security — protecting IT infrastructure, running penetration tests, and securing networks.

• Information Security Research — uncovering vulnerabilities, exploring

new attack techniques, and designing security standards.

• Security Assessment — testing and auditing systems to identify risks before attackers exploit them.

By taking just a few minutes to complete the text, young women can gain a clearer picture of how their abilities and passions align with the cybersecurity profession and take their first step towards a rewarding career protecting people, organisations, and the digital society at large.

Alongside these personalised matches, participants receive explanations of the roles and advice from Kaspersky’s female experts who work in these fields. They also receive suggested next steps such as recommended readings or practical activities to try, developed together with Smart Africa, Africaines in Tech, and Kaspersky Academy.

“We recommend young women to take this orientation test — even if you never considered a career in cybersecurity.

This test would provide you with unbiased view — while cybersecurity is a field, that requires technical skills development, it also needs curiosity, creativity, problemsolving, and resilience — qualities many young women already have. The test would help one to connect strengths with real career paths, empower to see

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a future in cybersecurity and to take first steps with confidence,” comments Evgeniya Russkikh, Head of Academic Affairs at Kaspersky.

This launch builds on Kaspersky’s long-term commitment to supporting

women in technology. As of early 2023, women represented 25 percent of the company’s global tech workforce — a 6.9 percentage point increase over four years. To further amplify women’s voices, Kaspersky also runs the Empower

Women digital project, which raises awareness of gender-related challenges, shares expert perspectives, and offers practical advice for building fairer and more inclusive environments in tech and beyond.

EMPOWERING CYBERSECURITY PROFESSIONALS: SANS CYBER SAFARI 2025 LAUNCHES IN RIYADH THIS OCTOBER SANS Institute, the global leader in cybersecurity training and certifications, has announced SANS Cyber Safari 2025 from October 4 to 23, 2025, the most comprehensive training event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 20-day training event will be held at the Hyatt Regency Riyadh Olaya covering 13 specialized courses across key cybersecurity disciplines, along with three NetWars tournaments, and Four Community Night Talks, designed to engage and empower cybersecurity professionals.

Saudi Arabia continues its international leadership in cybersecurity, maintaining the first position in global ranking of World Competitiveness Yearbook’s cybersecurity indicator for 2025, released by the Institute of Management Development (IMD). The top ranking is a result of the focus and guidance of the Kingdom’s cybersecurity sector. The Saudi Arabia cybersecurity market is valued at USD 2.19 billion in 2025 and is forecast to reach USD 3.67 billion by 2030, expanding at a 10.88% CAGR. “The National Cybersecurity Authority of Saudi Arabia continually emphasizes the vital role training has in mitigating human-related security risks. It is an essential investment and a core component for building robust and resilient defenses. This singular focus on skill development to tackle ever-evolving threat factors has helped the Kingdom to maintain its leadership position

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in cybersecurity,” said Ned Baltagi, Managing Director, Middle East, Turkey, and Africa at SANS Institute.

SANS Cyber Safari covers a broad spectrum of topics, from foundational security to advanced threat intelligence and forensics. Through industryleading hands-on labs, simulations, and exercises, focused on practical applications, professionals will gain the competitive advantage to stay ahead of evolving security challenges.

SANS Cyber Safari course modules include: • Artificial Intelligence & Cyber Defense – advanced threat detection, monitoring, operations, and opensource intelligence • Cloud Security – cloud security

architecture and best practices • Cyber Defense – security essentials and zero trust for hybrid enterprises • Cybersecurity Leadership – implementing and auditing CIS controls, and incident management • Digital Forensics & Incident Response (DFIR) – threat intelligence, enterprise forensics, and cybercrime investigations • Offensive Operations – hacker tools, techniques, and incident handling The three-week Cyber Safari features series of one-week courses, allowing flexibility to select and attend relevant modules. Each program offers both in-person and online training options, supported by certified instructors, immersive virtual labs, thought leadership sessions, workshops, courseware, and opportunity to earn GIAC certifications and CPE (Continuing Professional Education) credits. SANS Cyber Safari will also include NetWars Tournaments, an interactive cyber range event that makes learning into hands-on, gamified challenges. , This edition will feature three tracks: Cyber Defense NetWars, focusing on preventing, analysing, and defending against complex real-world attack scenarios; DFIR NetWars, covering digital forensics, incident response, threat hunting, and malware analysis; Core NetWars, the most comprehensive range to build diverse, advanced skills to handle

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current threat landscape.

SANS Cyber Safari will also host Community Night Talks on October 5, 6, 13 and 20th, 2025. These talks are an opportunity to interact with the local InfoSec community and learn the latest in technical wizardry, industry intelligence, and thought leadership. On October 5, Brian Correia, Director of Business Development, GIAC at SANS will conduct

a session on the ‘Impact of AI on the workforce’. Timothy McKenzie, Principal Instructor at SANS, on October 6 will hold a session on ‘Information Security and LLMs’. On October 13, SANS Certified Instructor Kevinn Holvoet will conduct a session on ‘From Intel to Action: Building a High-Speed Early Warning System with MISP and AI’. Mark Jeanmougin, Certified Instructor at SANS, on October 20 will

talk on the topic ‘Save Time with Modern Search Techniques’.

“NetWars tournaments and Community Nights offer excellent opportunities to learn directly from industry experts and sharpen practical skills. I highly encourage all participants to make the most of these sessions, not only to deepen their knowledge but also to build their network,” remarked Baltagi.

SENTINELONE NAMED A LEADER IN THE 2025 IDC MARKETSCAPE FOR WORLDWIDE XDR SOFTWARE SentinelOne, the leader in AI-native data to provide the most comprehensive • Devices are protected even when cybersecurity, announced that it has detection, response and threat hunting offline – SentinelOne performs logic been recognised as a Leader in the available. The IDC MarketScape noted the and analysis directly on the device.

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Extended following strengths for SentinelOne: • Identity threat detection and response Detection and Response (XDR) Software • SentinelOne provides the Purple AI play an important role in Singularity 2025 Vendor Assessment. It is the latest SOC analyst with GenAI and agentic Enterprise third-party recognition of the company’s AI capabilities.

XDR adoption is becoming increasingly AI-powered Singularity platform and its • Owing to a combination of factors, critical as organisations face growing state-of-the-art approach to leveraging SentinelOne minimises the signal-tocomplexity in their security environments. both native and third-party security data noise ratio in alert fidelity.

Enterprises are challenged with to stop attacks.

• SentinelOne Singularity includes managing fragmented tools, siloed According to the report, “SentinelOne powerful search capabilities. data, escalating attack volumes, and brands its products Singularity with • SentinelOne has an intricate, layered SentinelOne continues to break down the idea that it offers a unified agent, a strategy to combat ransomware – A those barriers. common data collection schema, unified ransomware attack can happen “As enterprises look to consolidate analytics, and an automated workflow.” quietly, at various stages, or all at security operations and reduce tool “We believe being named a Leader once. sprawl, extended detection and in the IDC MarketScape for XDR response platforms are becoming further validates our vision, our foundational,” said Chris Kissel, category-defining innovation, and Research Vice President, across-the-business execution,” Security & Trust Products, IDC. said Ely Kahn, VP of Product “SentinelOne distinguishes Management, SentinelOne. “Our itself in the XDR market with a unified Singularity Platform, unified architecture that spans featuring Purple AI, empowers endpoint, identity, cloud, and security teams to move faster, SIEM capabilities, all powered uplevel their teams and stop even by advanced AI and automation. the most sophisticated attacks, The addition of Purple AI as an helping organisations stay resilient agentic SOC analyst is particularly against constantly evolving cyber noteworthy, enabling security threats.” teams to accelerate threat hunting, SentinelOne delivers XDR through triage, and reporting with natural its Singularity Enterprise platform, language and AI-driven workflows. bringing together its native This combination of breadth, depth, endpoint, cloud, GenAI and identity and usability positions SentinelOne Ely Kahn, VP of Product Management at SentinelOne. as a Leader in the XDR landscape.” security with third-party security

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COVER STORY / COMMVAULT

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FROM CONTINUITY TO CONTINUOUS BUSINESS COMMVAULT’S FADY RICHMANY OUTLINES HOW MULTI-CLOUD ADOPTION, AI DISRUPTION, AND RELENTLESS THREATS DEMAND A NEW RESILIENCE PLAYBOOK FOR THE UAE’S DIGITAL-FIRST FUTURE.

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yber resilience has become the ultimate measure of business survival in a digitalfirst world. For the UAE—driving ambitious transformation and innovation—the stakes are even higher, with every advance bringing fresh exposure to cyber risks.

Fady Richmany, Corporate Vice President – Emerging Markets (CEE, CIS & META) at Commvault, stands as one of the region’s most influential voices shaping this dialogue.

Since joining Commvault in 2021, he has overseen diverse high-growth markets, bringing with him more than 30 years of IT leadership experience.

Fady’s career spans critical roles with global technology giants, including a 16-year tenure at Dell/EMC where he spearheaded business growth across emerging markets and led the Data Protection Solutions Business Unit for the TEEAM region (Turkey, Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East). With this wealth of experience, Richmany offers unique insights into the evolving cybersecurity landscape, highlighting the impact of multi-cloud adoption, the double-edged power of AI, and why resilience must evolve from business continuity to “continuous business.”

In this exclusive conversation with Sandhya D’Mello,

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Editor, Security Advisor Middle East, Richmany shares why resilience is no longer a defensive posture but the defining capability for enterprises navigating multi-cloud complexity, AI’s double-edged impact, and an unpredictable cyber threat horizon.

The UAE has committed to becoming a digital-first nation.

With this approach, cybersecurity responsibility naturally rises. What does this mean for the sector, and what trends have you observed?

We are living in a digitally connected economy. The shared economy, cloud, and multi-cloud models have transformed the way we work and live. Before the cloud era, things were simpler; you had your data on your own machines, in your server room, in your data centre. Today, everything is distributed across clouds and platforms, and while that gives us incredible flexibility, productivity, and efficiency, it also comes with a cost. Every organisation now lives under the threat of a cyberattack. CXOs carry an enormous burden because a single breach can jeopardise an entire business. In the past, the CFO was seen as the key decisionmaker because financial risk was at the centre. Today, that responsibility has shifted to the Chief Information Officer,

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the Chief Security Officer, and the Chief Trust Officer. It is now more than an IT or Security teams’ issue, it has become a board-level priority.

The UAE is a great example of how strong leadership can shape the future.

I have lived here for 33 years, and I am proud to call it home. The country’s digital-first vision and drive toward innovation are setting global benchmarks.

But as digital transformation accelerates, cybercrime also rises. This is the reality of a connected world; you cannot completely avoid attacks, but you can be ready for them. That readiness is what defines true resilience.

At Commvault, we have been part of this journey for nearly three decades. Our roots go back to Bell Labs in New Jersey, and we have always been an engineeringled company. But the past two years have been a golden era for us. We made a deliberate shift from traditional data protection to cyber resilience, bridging the gap between data security

and recovery. We call this the move from business continuity to continuous business. It is about always being ready, always protected, and always able to recover. For me, it comes down to three fundamentals: be ready, be prepared, and be proactive. That is the foundation of resilience in the digital age.

How has the evolution of cloud and AI changed the cyber landscape?

AI and cloud have completely reshaped the cyber landscape. They have brought enormous benefits, but they have also made the environment far more complex and dangerous. AI is a powerful tool.

It works very well for those using it for good, but equally well for those with bad intentions. The people behind attacks are often one step ahead, and that is what makes the situation so serious. I always say that cyber resilience starts where cybersecurity stops, because many organisations are still focused on prevention rather than recovery.

A SINGLE MISCONFIGURED CLOUD SETTING CAN CAUSE AS MUCH DAMAGE AS A FULL-SCALE RANSOMWARE ATTACK. TRUE RESILIENCE MUST BE HOLISTIC, ANTICIPATING EVERY KIND OF FAILURE.

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Over the years, businesses have poured huge budgets into cybersecurity, building high walls and adding layer after layer of protection. Yet breaches continue to happen. The question today is not whether an organisation will be attacked but how ready it is when that moment comes. AI-driven attacks are faster, more sophisticated, and harder to detect. That is why you now need AI to fight AI. It is no longer optional to have AI embedded in your platform.

At Commvault, we built Arlie, our autonomous resilience technology, to help organisations recover faster and smarter. It helps identify the cleanest version of data and assesses security posture so recovery can happen at speed.

According to IBM’s Global Study 2024, the average downtime after a ransomware attack is 24 days, with losses of millions of dollars. The financial, operational, and reputational impact is huge. That is why we moved beyond the old concept of business continuity toward what we call continuous business, where readiness and resilience never stop.

Skill shortages in cybersecurity are a pressing concern. How do you see AI influencing this challenge?

It is a massive issue, and AI is making the challenge both more complicated and

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more promising. On one side, AI enables more advanced attacks that are faster and harder to detect. On the other side, it can be used to close the gap created by limited human resources. We always say that AI should assist people, not replace them, and that is where its real value lies.

AI can automate many of the timeconsuming tasks that overwhelm security teams. It can guide analysts to focus on what matters most, while systems like Arlie help organisations make faster, more accurate decisions during a crisis.

In this environment, resilience becomes a continuous state. The old frameworks of recovery and downtime do not apply anymore. What matters is being always ready, always protected, and always capable of recovering quickly.

That is the mindset needed to stay ahead in today’s cyber landscape.

Is predicting real-time attacks a myth or a possibility?

You cannot predict attacks in real time.

What you can do is detect an early ransomware attack. One of our offers is Threatwise as a Service. That came from an acquisition we did three years ago which we integrated into our platform.

To help customers detect an early attack we use what is called advanced deception. You create a simulated environment that looks like yours. If you have 5,000 virtual machines, 100 routers, scanners and cameras, you create a subset of those as fake assets. They have IP addresses, they behave like real assets, they mimic your environment. If an attacker hits those simulated assets, that is a trim wire, an alert that you are under attack.

Once you get that alert you decide the

MINIMUM VIABLE COMPANY DEFINES WHAT KEEPS THE LIGHTS ON WHEN EVERYTHING ELSE FAILS— IT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FUNCTIONAL SURVIVAL AND TOTAL SHUTDOWN. next move. Do you run forensics, cut them out, or leave them to see where they are trying to go? This approach is the best practical option today. To detect truly in real-time, you would have to be lucky enough for the attacker to touch those simulated assets first, and that is what advanced deception helps you achieve.

What does it mean to be cyber resilient?

It all goes back to the idea of being ready, being prepared, and being proactive.

That is what cyber resilience is about.

You must be ready to protect your crown jewels, which is your data. You need to build what we call a digital vault, or what some call a cyber-vault. It is the same idea as putting your jewellery in a bank vault. Your golden copy of data goes there. I call it a golden copy because it is unique, protected, and constantly checked for any malware or manipulation. It is kept almost offline, scanned regularly, and verified for data integrity.

In technology terms, we call this an air-gapped copy stored on immutable storage, which means once data is written, it cannot be changed. We also apply what we call indelible copies, where even administrators cannot delete data without authorisation. That is how you truly protect your data. You must also protect your Active Directory, which are the keys to the kingdom.

AI ENHANCES VIGILANCE, BUT RESILIENCE ENSURES ENDURANCE. ONLY WHEN THE TWO WORK TOGETHER CAN ORGANISATIONS MOVE FROM DEFENCE TO CONFIDENCE. www.tahawultech.com

Many organisations neglect this and end up exposed. With advanced recovery capabilities such as forest-level recovery, you help to make sure it stays safe and recoverable.

Another important element is cleanroom recovery. When you are under attack, your production, backup, and disaster recovery sites are often compromised. A cleanroom creates an isolated recovery environment so you can test and restore safely without contamination. We took this further with what we call the four Rs: risk, readiness, recovery, and rebuild. Through our acquisition of Appranix, we can now help customers rebuild their entire application stack in potentially less than an hour, a process that used to take weeks.

This is supported by our Cloud Rewind capability and extended protection for AWS environments through Clumio. We also recently expanded into AI security with our acquisition of Satori Cyber. This is what true cyber resilience means protection, recovery, and the ability to rebuild stronger and faster.

Is ransomware still the most significant threat?

Ransomware is still a major concern, but I would say it has become more of a business term than a technical one.

It means someone attacks you, locks your systems, and demands payment to release them. But cyberattacks take many forms. They can come through phishing, malware, social engineering, or even simple human error. So, when we talk about cyber resilience, it is not just about ransomware. You can have a breach without a ransom demand, or you might face a completely different kind of disruption.

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COVER STORY / COMMVAULT Can you explain the concept of a “Minimum Viable Company” (MVC) in resilience planning?

The concept of a Minimum Viable Company, or MVC, is something we use to help customers stay operational even when things go wrong. I like to explain it simply. When we work with an organisation, we help them identify what is truly essential for the business to run. This goes beyond what we used to call mission-critical workloads. We look at the core systems, the key data, the people, and the processes that must stay active no matter what happens. That becomes their MVC. It’s the minimum state in which the company can continue to operate and serve customers during an outage or attack.

Think of it like an airline. As long as the engines are running, the plane can keep flying. It is fine if the Wi-Fi stops working, the entertainment system shuts down, or the food service is interrupted.

Those are inconveniences, but the flight continues safely. The same principle applies in business. During a cyberattack or system failure, not everything has to run perfectly. What matters is that the essential parts of the business stay functional.

Implementing MVC starts with assessing the environment to identify those essential workloads and dependencies. Then comes prioritisation, deciding what can temporarily go offline without stopping operations. The next step is protection, applying the right security and recovery strategies around those critical components. Finally, recovery planning can help ensure that when something goes wrong, those vital systems come back online quickly. MVC is not just a technical idea.

It is a resilience mindset that helps organisations maintain continuity, protect customer trust, and recover faster when disruptions happen.

Beyond the use of specific tools to combat ransomware, how important is overall awareness in building cyber resilience? And how is Commvault helping to raise awareness among organisations of all sizes, not just large enterprises?

Cyber resilience has changed everything for us. It has been embraced by customers and partners alike. This is because we are creating awareness.

Awareness is at the heart of everything we do. We have turned it into

a real, interactive experience through a series of workshops. One of the most popular is Minutes to Meltdown. It is a tabletop exercise designed for C-level executives. Five people take on roles as CEO, CIO, CISO, CTO, and Chief Legal Officer, and they play through a reallife scenario based on a hypothetical airline cyberattack. The exercise walks them through every stage, from the first phishing email that lets the attackers in, to the full-scale attack months later. It is immersive, almost like a movie, and it always leaves participants thinking differently about their readiness.

Everyone walks out knowing exactly what they need to fix the next day.

We also have the Cyber Recovery Range program, which takes awareness even further. It includes live and consultancy-driven assessments for both customers and non-customers. For those who are not yet with Commvault, we offer a complimentary analysis to show what is protected, what is exposed, and where their risks lie. For existing customers, we go deeper to measure readiness, resilience, and recovery speed. These initiatives have helped organisations of all sizes understand their true cyber posture and close the gaps before it is too late.

This focus on awareness has been a major driver of our growth and credibility.

A strong story backed by strong results.

That is what defines Commvault today.

Can AI help organisations increase protection against cyber threats?

We already said it: you need AI to fight AI. Can it make you one hundred percent secure? No, nothing can. But AI is now essential to strengthen protection and resilience. You still need traditional cybersecurity tools such as firewalls, scanners, and intrusion detectors. Those are your first line of defence. They build the walls and highways that keep threats out. But you must also prepare for the day someone jumps over that wall. The question is, are you ready for that moment?

You still need to monitor, protect, and invest in strong defences, but you also

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www.tahawultech.com

CYBER RESILIENCE IS NO LONGER A DEFENSIVE POSTURE—IT’S THE DEFINING CAPABILITY FOR ENTERPRISES NAVIGATING MULTI-CLOUD COMPLEXITY, AI DISRUPTION, AND AN UNPREDICTABLE THREAT HORIZON. need to plan for what happens after an incident. That is where cyber resilience comes in. A truly resilient company does not just rely on keeping attackers out.

It knows how to recover quickly and continue operating even when a breach happens.

What helps me sleep at night is not that I have cybersecurity, but that I have cyber resilience. That mindset shift is critical. In the multi-cloud era, where everything is interconnected, protection is only one part of the story. Resilience is what helps ensure that your business can withstand and recover from any attack, no matter how sophisticated it becomes.

Finally, what three short tips would you give organisations to strengthen cyber resilience Remember; be ready, be prepared, and be proactive. These are the three pillars of cyber resilience. Let me unfold them from a technology point of view.

To be ready means to protect your crown jewels, which is your data. Build a digital vault with air-gapped, immutable, and indelible copies. Create an illusion by deploying decoys that help detect early attacks. And always protect your keys to the kingdom - your Active Directory.

Then, be prepared. Do not wait until it is too late. Test and drill your recovery plans regularly in a cleanroom environment. Measure your mean time to clean recovery and challenge your own resilience. Embrace multi-cloud strategies with air-gapped copies. If they had not diversified their environment and maintained secondary air-gapped copies, recovery would have been much

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harder. And finally, make compliance a priority. At Commvault, we are natively built on Azure and hold comprehensive certifications, including FedRAMP High, Government RAMP, HIPAA, ISO 27001, GDPR, and DORA. Finally, be proactive. Move from business continuity to continuous business. Security, rebalancing, and recovery must be constant. Use Cloud

Rewind to rebuild application stacks quickly, protect billions of objects efficiently, and define your Minimum Viable Company so you can potentially recover in days instead of weeks. Being proactive is about taking control before something goes wrong.

So, for organisations my advice is to be ready, be prepared, and be proactive.

That is how you stay truly resilient.

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CISO50 AND FUTURE SECURITY AWARDS

CISO50 AND FUTURE SECURITY AWARDS FOCUS ON EXCELLENCE IN INNOVATION AND LEADERSHIP

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PI Media Group and tahawultech.com recently hosted the 2025 edition of their long-running CISO50 & Future Security Awards.

Set at the lavish, Sofitel Dubai Downtown Dubai, the dual event sought to celebrate both exceptional enterprise IT security leaders and businesses that have delivered ground-breaking value through the application of security technologies.

Sponsored by Gold Sponsors – LinkShadow & Starlink an Infinigate Group Company and Silver Sponsors – Cyberhub powered by Finesse & Teksalah, this unique event provided a platform for networking and knowledge sharing within various industries alongside recognising decision makers

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across various categories for their consistent commitment to innovation.

Speaking on the evening, Sandhya D’Mello an Editor for CPI Media Group remarked, “The CISO 50 & Future Security Awards 2025 were more than a celebration of achievement — they reflected the collective resilience, innovation, and vision driving the region’s cybersecurity landscape. From recognising trailblazing CISOs to honouring organisations shaping the future of security, tonight underscored one truth: cybersecurity is no longer a support function, it is at the very heart of business strategy and digital transformation”.

The evening began with a detailed and engaging panel discussion titled ‘Cybersecurity at the core – Leading with

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resilience in a digitally dynamic world’. The expert panellists included: 1. Kawther Haciane, Principal, EY 2. Anoop Kumar Paudval, Head of Information Security Governance Risk and Compliance, Gulf News, Al Nisr Publishing LLC 3. Ajay Mathai, Director of Information Technology, Atlantis Resorts, Dubai Moderated by Sandhya D’Mello, Editor, CPI Media Group, the engaging discussion shed light on the core business

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role that cybersecurity plays for today’s organisations and how businesses must build out from a cybersecurity foundation.

Attendees left the session with a renewed mindfulness on how to navigate the modern digital landscape with key cyber resilient principles.

The highlight of the evening was of course the awards ceremony for CISO 50 & FSA 2025. This showcase celebrated individuals and organisations that demonstrated exceptionalism with regards to security technologies in addition to recognising the key-decision makers that help make it all possible.

OCTOBER 2025

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CISO50 AND FUTURE SECURITY AWARDS

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Dr. Mohammad Abdulla Al Awadhi

Davide Del Vecchio

Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP)

Careem

Talal Albalas

Ajay Mathai

Ministry of Culture, Government of the United Arab Emirates

Atlantis Resorts, Dubai

Jinson Pappachan

Dr. Fayid Kadambodan

Emirates Policy Center

Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ)

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OCTOBER 2025

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CISO50 AND FUTURE SECURITY AWARDS

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Mohamed Riyasudeen

Prashant Nair

Al Ain Ahlia Insurance Company (PSC)

Airtel Africa

Shafiullah Ismail

Dhiraj Sasidharan

Mubadala Capital

Leading Financial Institution, UAE

OCTOBER 2025

Nisha Rani

Anas Elsadig Eltahir

MMI Emirates Leisure Retail

The Government of Dubai Legal Affairs Department www.tahawultech.com

Kanesan Pandi

Ajith Kumar Pillai

Galadari Brothers Group

Liva Insurance B.S.C. (C)

Rochak Puri

Rohit Anand Bajpai

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise

Gulf Islamic Investments (GII)

Jayesh Nandanan

Vijay Velayutham

Mediclinic Middle East

Ministry of Energy & Infrastructure, UAE

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OCTOBER 2025

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CISO50 AND FUTURE SECURITY AWARDS

Luqman Kondeth

Nishanth Menothparambil

New York University Abu Dhabi

Enova Facilities Management Services LLC

Padam Sundar Kafle

Dr. Mohammed Salem Matar Alshamsi

Aster Hospitals UAE

Emirates Health Services

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Zaheer Mubarak Shaikh

Hasan Mehdi

Mbank

Habib Bank Limited

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Karim Shaik

Manish Agarwal

Vice President’s Office

M. H. Enterprises LLC

Hadi Anwar

Chenthil Kumar

CPX

Red Sea International (RSI)

Manoharan Mudaliar

Anchal Choubey

Truebell Group of Companies

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OCTOBER 2025

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CISO50 AND FUTURE SECURITY AWARDS

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Mohammed H. AlAbbadi

Fertiglobe

Abhinav Kumar Shrivastava

NMC Healthcare

Ebrahim Kamalzadeh

Al Nabooda Automobiles LLC

Ali Al Kaf Alhashmi

Mubadala

Kausar Mukeri

GEMS Education

Vishnu Padmakumar

General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSAAE)

Nagesh Aswartha

RAK Public Services Department

Ahmed Nabil Mahmoud

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

Santosh Pathak

King’s College Hospital London, Dubai

Ram Soni

Mashreq

Dr. Alok Tuteja

Esyasoft Holdings

Mohammed Munib

National Bonds Corporation

Kiran Kumar PG

Alpheya

Mansoor Ahmad Khan

IHS Towers

OCTOBER 2025

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CISO50 AND FUTURE SECURITY AWARDS

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CPX

Kawther Haciane, EY

Best Security Solutions Provider of the Year

Digital Risk Visionary Leader of the Year

LinkShadow Best Intelligent NDR Vendor of the Year

SentinelOne

Gulf Business Machines (GBM)

AI-Native Cybersecurity Innovation of the Year

Best Managed Security Services Provider of the Year

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OCTOBER 2025

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CISO50 AND FUTURE SECURITY AWARDS

VAD Technologies Excellence in Cybersecurity Channel Development

NTT DATA

Help AG

Best Enterprise Cybersecurity Provider of the Year

Cybersecurity Leader of the Year

Raqmiyat Best Security Systems Integrator of the Year 32

OCTOBER 2025

www.tahawultech.com

Ahmad Halabi, Resecurity

D-Link

Hall of Fame Cybersecurity Leader of the Year

Network Infrastructure Innovation Award

StarLink Best Cyber Resilience Distributor of the Year

Tenable One

Kapil Matta

Best AI-Powered Exposure Management Platform of the Year

Cybersecurity Community Leader of the Year

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OCTOBER 2025

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CISO50 AND FUTURE SECURITY AWARDS

Network Binary Outstanding CSR Initiatives in Digital Literacy & Cybersecurity

Omnix International

Teksalah

Best AI-Driven Cyber Defense Services Provider of the Year

Best Cybersecurity Solutions Partner of the Year

SANS Institute

Most Innovative Cybersecurity Training Programs of the Year

Delinea

Best Identity and Access Management Vendor of the Year

The CISO 50 & FSA Awards evening was a resounding success, bringing together some of the brightest minds in an industry that is evolving at a lightning-fast pace for well deserved recognition.

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HOSTED BY

OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT CYBERSECURITY PARTNER

OFFICIALLY SUPPORTED BY

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA’S LARGEST CYBERSECURITY EVENT

SCAN HERE

ENQUIRE FOR 2026!

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SPOTLIGHT / CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS MONTH AND GITEX GLOBAL 2025

FROM AWARENESS TO ACTION: THE UAE’S CYBERSECURITY FRONTLINES TAKE CENTRE STAGE AT GITEX 2025 OCTOBER BRINGS A POWERFUL CONVERGENCE FOR THE UAE’S DIGITAL LANDSCAPE—WHERE GITEX GLOBAL 2025 AND CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS MONTH UNITE TO SPOTLIGHT THE NATION’S LEADERSHIP IN RESILIENCE, INNOVATION, AND SECURE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION.

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ctober in the UAE has become synonymous with innovation, collaboration, and heightened vigilance in the digital realm. As GITEX Global 2025 returns to Dubai, bringing together the world’s foremost technology leaders, the month also marks Cybersecurity Awareness Month—a dual celebration that places the spotlight squarely on digital trust, resilience, and readiness.

For the cybersecurity ecosystem, this

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convergence couldn’t be more timely.

From unveiling next-generation AIpowered defence platforms on the GITEX show floor to reinforcing the human firewall through awareness campaigns, the UAE stands at the intersection of global expertise and local execution. This unique alignment ensures enterprises, government entities, and startups alike gain access to the best in security innovation, skilled talent, and futureready services—cementing the nation’s position as a regional and global hub for

cyber excellence.

As industry leaders, policymakers, and innovators unite this October, the conversation extends beyond protecting systems—it’s about empowering people, securing nations, and redefining the boundaries of what a cyber-resilient future looks like.

Security Advisor Middle East, spoke to some of the leading voices in the industry who see progressing evolving trends shaping the dynamics of the UAE’s cybersecurity sector.

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Ezzeldin Hussein Regional Senior Director, Solution Engineering, Sentinelone

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orkforce awareness is the foundation of a strong cybersecurity culture. Technology alone cannot stop threats if employees are not equipped to recognise risks such as phishing, social engineering, and shadow AI usage. Every click, login, or prompt interaction can either strengthen or weaken an organisation’s defenses. At SentinelOne, we believe Awareness Month is the ideal time to emphasise that people and technology must work together. Our AI-native platform empowers security teams to automate detection and response, but we also enable users to make smarter decisions by reducing noise, providing clear alerts, and embedding security into daily workflows. With innovations like Purple AI and runtime AI security, employees can use generative AI tools safely without data leakage or misuse. By combining workforce awareness with autonomous technology, we help organisations across the Middle East build a security-first culture where every employee is an active defender.

Enterprises in the Middle East are eager to embrace AI to drive innovation and efficiency, but adoption must be secured with strong governance and compliance. The risks of shadow AI, prompt injection, and uncontrolled tool usage make visibility and policy enforcement critical. Organisations should start by implementing runtime AI security and AI Security Posture Management to monitor how AI tools are accessed, what data is shared, and to block high-risk prompts in real time.

Simultaneously, they must align with

Ezzeldin Hussein, Regional Senior Director, Solution Engineering, Sentinelone regional regulations on data sovereignty by ensuring that sensitive information is not exposed or transferred outside mandated boundaries. AI-SIEM enables enterprises to unify threat intelligence sharing while maintaining compliance, giving SOC teams actionable insights without risking privacy.

At SentinelOne, our AI-native platform enables enterprises to balance innovation with regulation, ensuring that AI adoption is safe, compliant, and resilient. This initiative supports national visions such as Saudi Vision 2030 and the UAE’s digital strategy.

The Middle East is one of our most strategic growth markets. Governments

WORKFORCE AWARENESS IS THE FOUNDATION OF A STRONG CYBERSECURITY CULTURE— BECAUSE EVERY CLICK, LOGIN, OR PROMPT CAN EITHER STRENGTHEN OR WEAKEN AN ORGANISATION’S DEFENCES. www.tahawultech.com

and enterprises across the region are accelerating digital transformation, investing in AI, cloud, and cybersecurity as national priorities under programs such as the UAE’s Digital Economy Strategy and Saudi Vision 2030. This creates a strong demand for AI-native, autonomous security that delivers both resilience and compliance with data sovereignty mandates. The META region is also home to some of the world’s most critical infrastructure, where downtime or breaches can have national-scale impact, making advanced protection essential.

GITEX is a cornerstone of our engagement, giving us the opportunity to demonstrate our latest innovations, including Purple AI, AI-SIEM, Hyperautomation, cloud and identity security, and runtime AI security, to a diverse audience of decision-makers.

It also allows us to deepen collaborations with partners. By combining innovation with ecosystem partnerships, GITEX helps us expand our presence and reinforce trust in the region.

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SPOTLIGHT / CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS MONTH AND GITEX GLOBAL 2025

Maher Jadallah Vice President - Middle East & North Africa, Tenable

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orkforce awareness is a critical, non-negotiable layer in building a strong cybersecurity culture.

Since attackers are now leveraging Generative AI to launch faster, more personalised, and highly compelling phishing attacks, every employee is a potential entry point. However, the best defense is not just relying on human vigilance, but on ensuring the organisation’s technical defenses are rock-solid.

This is the essence of an exposure management program. By addressing the technical flaws that threat actors favor— be it an unpatched vulnerability, a cloud misconfiguration, or an overprivileged identity—the organisation drastically reduces the damage an employee’s accidental click might cause. During Awareness Month, Tenable reinforces this message, helping security teams translate complex technical flaws into clear business risks. This ensures everyone understands that security is a shared business priority that protects the digital foundation, even when human error occurs.

To secure AI adoption while maintaining strict compliance, Middle East enterprises must mandate a strategic shift towards proactive risk management. The rapid integration of AI often bypasses formal security processes, leading to new vulnerabilities and potential compliance failures, especially concerning data sovereignty.

Enterprises must implement a governance framework that requires unified visibility and continuous monitoring of all AI-related assets, both sanctioned and shadow AI. This framework should identify where sensitive data is being used, processed, and stored by AI workloads, allowing the enterprise to enforce security guardrails and maintain data residency.

Furthermore, strong policies are needed

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Maher Jadallah, Vice President - Middle East & North Africa, Tenable to ensure that threat intelligence sharing is done through secure, compliant channels that respect national regulations. By moving beyond siloed security checks to a holistic risk posture, organisations can confidently accelerate their AI initiatives while ensuring they meet all regulatory demands for governance and compliance.

The Middle East market is strategically important for Tenable, forming a central pillar of its growth strategy. This is driven by the region’s accelerated digital transformation initiatives, particularly the ambitious Dubai Economic Agenda D33.

Technology is the foundational element

for achieving this, but this rapid change simultaneously amplifies the risk of cyber exposure.

GITEX serves as an invaluable platform to support this growth. It allows Tenable to showcase its flagship Tenable One Exposure Management Platform, engage in meaningful, one-on-one conversations with both existing and prospective customers, and strengthen its vital network of regional partners. By aligning its proactive security message with the region’s need for resilience, Tenable ensures it can expand its footprint and play an active role in securing the Middle East’s future digital success.

THE BEST DEFENCE ISN’T JUST HUMAN VIGILANCE— IT’S ELIMINATING THE TECHNICAL FLAWS THAT MAKE ATTACKS POSSIBLE IN THE FIRST PLACE. www.tahawultech.com

Harish Chib Vice President Emerging Markets, Middle East & Africa, Sophos

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uilding workforce awareness is fundamental to a strong and resilient cybersecurity culture.

Aligned with Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Sophos released the 2025 Human Cost of Vigilance Report, which highlights that over 50% of cybersecurity professionals are experiencing increased stress due to the growing complexity of threats. This emphasises the need to equip employees with both knowledge and practical tools to respond effectively.

While nurturing a supportive culture, providing mental health resources, and investing in professional development are critical, strategic external partnerships—particularly Sophos MDR—play a vital role. Partnering with Sophos MDR enables organisations to establish proactive, round-the-clock defenses, protect against threats like

OVER 50% OF CYBERSECURITY PROFESSIONALS REPORT RISING STRESS—PROOF THAT RESILIENCE MEANS PROTECTING NOT JUST DATA, BUT THE PEOPLE DEFENDING IT. ransomware, and support the well-being of their cybersecurity teams, ensuring a sustainable and effective human and technical defense against evolving cyber risks.

Sophos is helping its customers navigate regulatory complexities around AI governance, data sovereignty, and threat intelligence sharing by combining advanced technology with deep industry expertise and regional alignment. Sophos ensures that its AI-driven solutions are transparent, explainable, and

Harish Chib, Vice President Emerging Markets, Middle East & Africa, Sophos

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aligned with emerging AI governance frameworks, helping organisations meet compliance requirements while maintaining trust and accountability.

To support data sovereignty, Sophos offers regionally hosted data centers— including planned expansions in the Middle East—to give customers control over where their data is stored and processed. Additionally, Sophos’ threat intelligence is gathered through a global network but shared in compliance with local and international regulations, ensuring responsible, secure, and actionable insights. Through managed services like Sophos MDR and a strong partner ecosystem, the company provides tailored guidance to help customers stay compliant while maintaining strong cyber resilience.

The Middle East is a strategically important market for Sophos, where we see strong demand for advanced, AI-driven cybersecurity solutions that help organisations detect and respond to threats in real time, protect critical data, and accelerate digital transformation.

GITEX provides an ideal platform to strengthen our presence, engage with customers and partners, and explore new collaborations, while demonstrating our local investments—such as data centers, services, and regional partnerships.

By participating, we can showcase how Sophos supports the full cybersecurity lifecycle, helping organisations build resilient, round-the-clock cyber defenses and grow securely and confidently in one of the region’s fastest-evolving digital markets.

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SPOTLIGHT / CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS MONTH AND GITEX GLOBAL 2025

Biju Unni Vice President at Cloud Box Technologies

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ne of the weakest links that can introduce malware or other forms of attacks into an organisation’s IT systems is the lack of employee awareness. It is therefore critical for organisations to train their workforce on the different types of cyberattacks and how advanced technologies can help detect and neutralise such attempts, preventing millions of dirhams in potential damage.

At Cloud Box Technologies, we recognise how vital cybersecurity awareness is. That’s why we run targeted training programs for our clients, simulating real-world attacks to demonstrate how employees can identify threats, disengage from them, and take corrective measures. This approach

AWARENESS IS THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENCE. BY TRAINING EMPLOYEES TO SPOT AND STOP ATTACKS, ORGANISATIONS BUILD THE MINDSET THAT POWERS REAL CYBER RESILIENCE. strengthens organisations with a true security-first culture, ensuring resilience against evolving threats.

AI is rapidly becoming the cornerstone of digital transformation in the Middle East, with governments across the region actively driving adoption by introducing supportive policies and easing governance frameworks.

However, even with these advancements, certain regulations around data

Biju Unni, Vice President at Cloud Box Technologies

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privacy, sovereignty, and organisational accountability remain non-negotiable.

Businesses cannot afford to treat these as afterthoughts. It is therefore critical for enterprises to align their AI strategies with established regulatory frameworks, ensuring compliance with regional mandates while safeguarding user and organisational data. By embedding compliance and governance into the foundation of their AI journey, organisations can unlock innovation with confidence, achieving both agility and trust in equal measure.

We have been established in the Middle East for more than a decade, and the region remains central to our business strategy. Dubai, as a global hub for technology and innovation, and a leader in AI adoption, has made aggressive investments in cybersecurity, AI, and cloud, among others, enabling stakeholders to achieve unparalleled growth within a dynamic IT ecosystem.

At Cloud Box Technologies, we view GITEX as a pivotal platform that connects us directly with decisionmakers across both private and government sectors. It provides us the opportunity to showcase our expertise in infrastructure, cybersecurity, cloud, and AI solutions, launch new offerings, and highlight how our past projects have helped clients achieve tangible outcomes. For us, GITEX is more than an exhibition; it is the stage where we continue to grow with global capabilities and local expertise at our disposal, together with partners and customers.

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Sujoy Banerjee Regional Business Director for the UAE at ManageEngine

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orkforce awareness is key to building a strong cybersecurity culture, as even advanced security tools can be undermined by human error.

Employees who understand risks such as phishing, weak passwords, and unsafe data handling become proactive defenders of organisational assets.

ManageEngine is actively engaged in this first line of defense through targeted training, interactive workshops, and engaging awareness campaigns. We conduct sessions to educate employees on how to recognise threats, follow best practices, and respond to security incidents.

Dashboards and analytics also enable managers to track compliance and engagement to ensure a continual culture of accountability.

Middle East enterprises can secure AI adoption while ensuring regulatory compliance by implementing a securityfirst, governance-driven approach.

Organisations must align AI initiatives with national data protection laws, such as the UAE’s Federal Data Protection Law and Saudi Arabia’s PDPL, to ensure data sovereignty and lawful processing. Leveraging Zero Trust principles, enterprises can continuously verify users, devices, and applications before granting access to AI systems, reducing the risk of unauthorised use or data leaks.

Using AI governance and compliance tools helps monitor

Sujoy Banerjee, Regional Business Director for the UAE at ManageEngine

model performance, enforce ethical standards, and maintain audit-ready documentation. Integrating AI with region-specific threat intelligence platforms allows businesses to detect and respond to risks proactively while complying with local data-sharing regulations. These practices enable

MIDDLE EAST ENTERPRISES CAN SECURE AI ADOPTION WHILE ENSURING REGULATORY COMPLIANCE BY IMPLEMENTING A SECURITY-FIRST, GOVERNANCE-DRIVEN APPROACH. www.tahawultech.com

safe, efficient, and fully compliant AI adoption.

The Middle East is central to ManageEngine’s global growth strategy and our presence at GITEX for the last 19 years has helped us engage with customers and partners, showcase product portfolios, and gain insights into market trends. GITEX has supported ManageEngine in driving growth, enhancing visibility, and building a strong customer base in the region. It also provides a platform to highlight localisation efforts; engage with CXOs, regulators, and innovators; and strengthen the partner ecosystem across the UAE and GCC.

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CYBERX-PARTNERSHIP / VAD TECHNOLOGIES

VAD TECHNOLOGIES, CYBERX JOIN FORCES TO STRENGTHEN PEOPLE-CENTRIC CYBERSECURITY ACROSS GCC THE NEW PARTNERSHIP AIMS TO EMPOWER ENTERPRISES TO BUILD CYBER-RESILIENT WORKFORCES AND DRIVE A CULTURE OF AWARENESS ACROSS THE REGION.

Mario Veljovic General Manager VAD Technologies.

V

AD Technologies, a leading value-added distributor in the region, has partnered with CyberX — a platform dedicated to raising cybersecurity awareness and enabling professionals to stay ahead of evolving threats. The collaboration reinforces VAD’s position as a leading value-added distributor specialising in cybersecurity and digital transformation solutions.

Mario Velojvic, General Manager of VAD Technologies, said, “At VAD Technologies, our mission has always been to bring best-of-breed solutions that add true value to our partners and end-users. Partnering with CyberX is a natural extension of this strategy, as they address one of the biggest gaps in cybersecurity—the human factor.

Strategic fit for a safer digital future VAD Technologies’ strategy has long been to align with vendors who deliver innovation and tangible value to the market. CyberX stood out for its engaging, gamified approach to cybersecurity awareness — bridging the critical gap between technology and human behaviour.

“The gamified awareness platform complements our existing portfolio by combining advanced technologies with people-centric training. Together, we are not only helping enterprises strengthen

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compliance and resilience, but also supporting broader regional initiatives to create safer digital economies. This collaboration underscores our role as the value-added cybersecurity distributor of choice in the GCC,” added Veljovic.

VAD’s extensive channel ecosystem, CyberX’s awareness and phishing simulation solutions will be made available to partners across the region.

This integration will help enterprises fortify their first line of defence — their people — by combining engaging, continuous awareness training with advanced cybersecurity technologies.

Unlike conventional training tools, CyberX’s platform offers highly interactive and locally tailored simulations that drive behavioural change rather than compliance-driven engagement. Its adaptability allows organisations to customise training journeys based on industry, risk level, and employee role, ensuring that learning is relevant and effective.

“Over the next three to five years, we expect this partnership to play a pivotal role in shaping a more mature cybersecurity culture across the region.

By combining VAD Technologies’ strong channel ecosystem with CyberX’s innovative awareness solutions, we aim to significantly reduce the risks associated with human error—the leading cause of breaches. Strategically, this will not only help enterprises strengthen compliance and resilience but also support governments’ and regulators’ broader visions of creating safer digital economies in the GCC. Together, we see this collaboration setting a new benchmark for people-centric cybersecurity in the region,” said Velojvic.

Reem Alzamil CEO CyberX

Driving compliance and culture The collaboration between VAD and CyberX provides enterprises with regulatory-aligned training programmes that not only meet compliance requirements but also foster a proactive security culture.

“At CyberX, our mission has always been to transform awareness into a practical shield for enterprises,” said Reem Alzamil, CEO of CyberX. “By integrating our gamified awareness programmes into VAD’s robust channel ecosystem, we empower

AT VAD TECHNOLOGIES, OUR MISSION HAS ALWAYS BEEN TO BRING BEST-OF-BREED SOLUTIONS THAT ADD TRUE VALUE TO OUR PARTNERS AND END-USERS. MARIO VELJOVIC, GENERAL MANAGER OF VAD TECHNOLOGIES www.tahawultech.com

employees to recognise, respond to, and prevent evolving threats. Compliance is no longer a checklist; it’s a journey,” Reem explained.

“Through this partnership, we help organisations go beyond audits — instilling secure behaviours that reduce human-related risks long after the compliance cycle ends.”

Looking ahead, both organisations envision their partnership playing a pivotal role in shaping a more mature cybersecurity culture across the GCC. Over the next three to five years, VAD and CyberX aim to help enterprises transition from reactive defence to proactive resilience.

“We see this partnership as a catalyst for transformation,” Reem added.

“Together, VAD and CyberX will empower organisations to close the human-risk gap and elevate the GCC’s position as a global leader in cyber maturity.”

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SANS INSTITUTE / INTERVIEW

Ned Baltagi Managing Director for the Middle East, Africa and Turkey at SANS Institute.

SANS STRENGTHENS GULF CYBERSECURITY SKILLS THROUGH IMMERSIVE TRAINING, AI-DRIVEN LEARNING NED BALTAGI OF SANS INSTITUTE OUTLINES HOW ADVANCED TRAINING, NATIONAL WORKFORCE ALIGNMENT, AND AI-FOCUSED FRAMEWORKS ARE SHAPING A MORE RESILIENT CYBERSECURITY LANDSCAPE ACROSS SAUDI ARABIA AND THE WIDER REGION. 44

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ybersecurity threats are increasing in both scale and sophistication, creating an urgent need for skilled professionals capable of protecting critical infrastructure and digital assets. In Saudi Arabia, national initiatives such as the Saudi Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (SCyWF) are accelerating the development of a resilient cyber workforce aligned with the Kingdom’s digital transformation objectives.

Within this evolving landscape, SANS Institute continues to play a central role in advancing technical expertise, leadership capability, and AI security awareness across the region.

Ned Baltagi, Managing Director for the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey at SANS Institute, spoke to Sandhya D’Mello, Technology Editor, CPI Media Group, about how initiatives such as SANS Cyber Safari, the Secure AI Blueprint, and the Gulf Region 2025 programme are helping professionals strengthen defences, enhance organisational resilience, and align cybersecurity with both national and business priorities.

How will SANS Cyber Safari help businesses strengthen employee awareness and reduce human‑related risks?

SANS Cyber Safari covers a broad spectrum of topics, from foundational security to advanced threat intelligence and forensics. The 20-day training event, held at the Hyatt Regency Riyadh Olaya, covers 13 specialised courses across key cybersecurity disciplines, along with three NetWars tournaments, and Four Community Night Talks, designed to engage and empower cybersecurity

professionals. Through industryleading hands-on labs, simulations, and exercises, focused on practical applications, professionals will gain the competitive advantage to stay ahead of evolving security challenges.

The three-week Cyber Safari features series of one-week courses, allowing flexibility to select and attend relevant modules. Each program offers both in-person and online training options, supported by certified instructors, immersive virtual labs, thought leadership sessions, workshops, courseware, and opportunity to earn GIAC certifications and CPE (Continuing Professional Education) credits. SANS Cyber Safari will also include NetWars Tournaments, an interactive cyber range event that makes learning into handson, gamified challenges. This edition will feature three tracks: Cyber Defense NetWars, focusing on preventing, analysing, and defending against complex real-world attack scenarios; DFIR NetWars, covering digital forensics, incident response, threat hunting, and

TECHNICAL SKILLS ALONE NO LONGER DEFINE SUCCESS IN CYBERSECURITY—THE ABILITY TO INFLUENCE, COMMUNICATE AND LEAD IS NOW JUST AS CRITICAL. www.tahawultech.com

malware analysis; Core NetWars, the most comprehensive range to build diverse, advanced skills to handle current threat landscape.

How is SANS’ alignment with the Saudi Cybersecurity Workforce Framework helping to build a skilled and resilient national cyber workforce?

SANS has mapped its training to the Saudi Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (SCyWF) in support of the National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA)’s mission to build a skilled and resilient national cyber workforce. With national job roles rapidly evolving, cybersecurity professionals in the Kingdom need a clear alignment between career pathways and the structured learning paths that build specialised skills and support long-term career growth. SANS now offers training directly mapped to SCyWF job roles, providing guided, role-based learning paths that help individuals and organisations build cyber capabilities and upskill, aligned to national standards and workforce priorities. Our courses are specifically mapped to these areas, offering professionals practical skills that address the evolving challenges of today’s security landscape. Whether you’re advancing your career or strengthening your team, our comprehensive training equips you with the knowledge and expertise to succeed in the industry.

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SANS INSTITUTE / INTERVIEW

The mapped work categories align directly to the specialty areas outlined in SCyWF, which include: • Cybersecurity architecture, research and development • Leadership and workforce development • Governance, risk, compliance and laws • Protection and defense • Industrial control systems and operational technologies (ICT/OT) The SANS Security Awareness report shows soft skills are key to security awareness. How should organisations rethink what makes a successful cybersecurity professional?

The 2025 SANS Security Awareness Report makes it clear: technical skills alone no longer define success in cybersecurity. As organisations face increasing human-related risks— especially from social engineering—the ability to influence, communicate, and lead has become just as vital as technical expertise.

While traditional cybersecurity roles have emphasised deep technical knowledge, today’s most effective security awareness leaders are distinguished by their soft skills.

The report highlights that program effectiveness is often tied not to the technical content delivered, but to the leader’s ability to inspire, influence, and

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communicate across departments. As such, organisations should evolve their definition of a successful cybersecurity professional to include: • Strong communication and storytelling skills • Empathy and behavioural insight • The ability to build trust and influence across teams • Cross-functional collaboration with HR, comms, and operations • Strategic thinking aligned with business risk and culture By recognising and nurturing these capabilities, organisations can elevate security awareness from a compliance checkbox to a strategic pillar of risk management and resilience.

How does SANS’ ‘Own AI Securely’ blueprint guide organisations in building the skills and frameworks needed to manage AI securely and responsibly amid rapidly evolving threats?

The Secure AI Blueprint (aka Own AI, Securely) is built around three imperatives: Protect AI, Utilise AI, Govern AI—each with concrete guidance mapped to relevant SANS courses and GIAC certifications. It helps organisations safeguard AI models and data, embed AI into defense use cases like detection, and build governance, oversight, and policy constructs aligned with emerging AI risk. It also references the SANS

Critical AI Security Guidelines v1.1, which enumerate controls around access, deployment, inference monitoring, adversarial attack protection, and compliance.

How will SANS Gulf Region 2025 enable professionals to strengthen and elevate cybersecurity as a driver of business continuity and growth?

As the winner of Tahawul Tech’s Most Innovative Cybersecurity Training Programs of the Year category at the Future Security Awards 2025, SANS is enabling professionals to elevate their technical and strategic skills in a way that directly supports business continuity and growth. SANS Gulf Region 2025 is a hybrid event with 14 instructor-led cybersecurity courses, NetWars tournaments, immersive labs, real‑world simulations, and live instruction from world‑class practitioners. Since the curriculum spans both foundational and advanced domains (including ICS/OT, AI/ML, secure architecture, detection/response, etc.), attendees can address current gaps in their organisation’s defenses while aligning their capabilities to emerging business risks. Furthermore, the event’s in‑person + virtual format, real‑time TA support in labs, and networking opportunities help participants bring best practices back to their teams.

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INTERVIEW / CITRIX

Francois Van Deventer Chief Technology Officer MiCloudSW.

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CITRIX REDEFINES SECURE ACCESS FOR THE HYBRID ERA FRANCOIS VAN DEVENTER, CTO AT MICLOUDSW, SHARES HOW CITRIX IS TRANSFORMING FROM A REMOTE-ACCESS PIONEER INTO A MODERN ACCESS SECURITY LEADER—EMPOWERING ENTERPRISES TO THRIVE IN AN AI-DRIVEN, ZERO-TRUST WORLD.

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he cybersecurity landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, where secure access has become central to business continuity and digital trust. Organisations operating across hybrid and multi-cloud environments require defences that go beyond the traditional perimeter. Citrix, now part of Cloud Software Group, is leading this evolution through unified, intelligent, and zero-trust-driven access solutions.

Francois Van Deventer, Chief Technology Officer at MiCloudSW, spoke to Sandhya D’Mello, Technology Editor, CPI Media Group on how Citrix is redefining secure digital workspaces, tackling region-specific cybersecurity challenges, and helping enterprises build resilient, compliant, and future-ready operations.

Citrix pioneered remote access decades ago. How has the cybersecurity landscape evolved since then, and how is Citrix continuing to redefine secure access in today’s hybrid and cloud-first era?

From terminal services and early

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ICA protocols to full-blown cloud workspaces, the threat landscape has shifted dramatically: perimeter-based defenses no longer suffice, lateral movement and identity-based attacks dominate, and hybrid/multi-cloud architectures demand zero-trust beyond the data center. Citrix’s legacy in remote access gives it deep credibility, but today we lead by evolving that foundation into a unified secure access platform. With Citrix Secure Access, we integrate SSO, application-level micro segmentation, conditional access, and threat protection into a cohesive control plane. We also adopt a “secure by design” ethos - recently joining the CISA Secure

by Design pledge - and strengthen our platform via acquisitions like deviceTRUST (for endpoint compliance) and Strong Network (for secure dev environments). In short: we transformed from remote-access pioneer to modern access security leader - protecting users, apps, and data across every boundary.

As CTO for emerging markets across Eastern Europe, Turkey, MENA, and Africa, what unique cybersecurity challenges do you see in these regions

compared to mature markets, and how does Citrix tailor its approach?

Emerging markets face a distinct combination of asymmetric threats, infrastructure variability, regulatory uncertainty, and resource constraints.

Cybercriminals often exploit weak patching practices, lack of mature identity governance, and the prevalence of legacy systems. Bandwidth constraints, unstable connectivity, and data sovereignty expectations add further complexity. In response, Citrix adopts a “flexible baseline” strategy: we provide modular deployment models (on-prem, hybrid, cloud) so customers can phase in defenses. We emphasise intelligent risk engines that adapt to local signal quality, use offline checks and cached policies for connectivity gaps, and embed contextual zero-trust controls without overtaxing limited infrastructure. We also prioritise compliance adaptability - for example, aligning with regional data localization laws and working with regional CSP partners. Finally, we invest in training and enabling local security teams, ensuring that our technology is paired with operational readiness in challenging markets.

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INTERVIEW / CITRIX With Citrix now part of Cloud Software Group, how is the integration accelerating innovation in secure digital workspaces and cyber resilience for enterprises?

The Citrix - Cloud Software Group integration unlocks scale, shared engineering, and product synergy.

We now unify networking (NetScaler/ ADC), secure access, analytics, and data services under a single architecture, enabling tight crossproduct orchestration. For example, NetScaler insights feed threat signals into workspace access decisions; Secure Private Access flows dynamically reconfigure application delivery policies. The shared R&D investments accelerate development cycles and reduce duplication. Further, the broader portfolio strengthens resilience: in crisis scenarios (e.g. DDoS or attack on application infrastructure), the group’s multiple layers (ADC, firewall, access control, policy orchestration) coordinate automatically to sustain operations.

Public sector focus is elevated too for instance, Citrix Cloud Government is being advanced to FedRAMP High standards, allowing the platform to handle sensitive U.S. government data.

This integration enables us to bring enterprise-grade security and agility to hybrid work more quickly and cohesively than before. Lastly, with recent aquisitions done by Cloud Software Group, customers can expect those benefits as well.

AI and automation are reshaping cybersecurity. How is Citrix embedding these technologies into its security offerings to protect against increasingly sophisticated threats?

We embed AI and automation across

every stage of access control, threat detection, and response. In policy engines, behavioral baselining and anomaly detection surface subtle deviations in user or device behavior - even before traditional signatures trigger. Automated decision engines then adjust conditional access policies in real time (e.g. requiring reauthentication, restricting app privilege, or elevating risk checks). In integration with NetScaler analytics, traffic telemetry from ADCs is correlated with identity and endpoint signals to flag hybrid threat patterns.

Behind the scenes, orchestration workflows automate remediation: compromised sessions are wrapped, credentials revalidated, and logs forwarded to SIEM or XDR platforms. We also leverage AI-assisted vulnerability scanning and patch prioritisation to accelerate our own product hardening.

The goal: shift from reactive defense to predictive, context-aware protection - at human scale.

Zero Trust has become a cornerstone of enterprise cybersecurity. How is Citrix enabling organisations to operationalise Zero Trust in complex hybrid IT environments?

We operationalise Zero Trust by layering identity, device posture, least privilege, and dynamic access across every access vector. With Citrix Secure Access, we enforce microsegmentation at the application layer, meaning every request is assessed - never implicitly trusted.

Identity is central: multi-factor, adaptive authentication, and continuous session re-validation form the gateway to any resource. Device posture is verified using deviceTRUST integration. We integrate threat intelligence and telemetry across networking and access to break silos

SECURITY SHOULD BE INVISIBLE UNLESS TRIGGERED—SEAMLESS EXPERIENCE AND STRONG PROTECTION CAN COEXIST. 50

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EMERGING MARKETS DEMAND FLEXIBLE, RESILIENT CYBERSECURITY STRATEGIES THAT ADAPT TO LOCAL REALITIES WITHOUT COMPROMISING PROTECTION. between network and identity teams.

Policy decisions span both cloud and on-prem resources, so a consistent Zero Trust posture can cover hybrid workloads. We provide policy templates and maturity checkpoints to help organisations transition incrementally - e.g. starting with high-risk workloads, then broadening trust-based fences.

Finally, we monitor drift and compliance continuously to prevent erosion of trust boundaries.

Thousands of organisations worldwide trust Citrix to keep their apps, data, and people secure. Could you share a compelling use case where Citrix technology has been instrumental in protecting mission-critical operations in sensitive sectors such as BFSI, healthcare, or government?

One illustrative case is a large Middle Eastern national bank (BFSI) that deployed Citrix Secure Access alongside Citrix Virtual Desktops and NetScaler ADC to protect its core banking applications. When the region’s regulatory body mandated zero-trust segmentation and continuous access verification, Citrix enabled microsegmented, per-application access directly to core systems without requiring full network VPN ingress. Conditional policies enforce extra MFA or device posture checks for high-risk actions (e.g. funds transfer). In parallel, the NetScaler

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ADC layer inspected traffic anomalies and fed real-time flags into the access control plane. By combining ADC, access, behavioral analytics, and device compliance, the bank transformed from a brittle perimeter model to a dynamic adaptive defense - reducing lateral risk, achieving regulatory compliance, and maintaining a seamless user experience.

The rise of remote and hybrid work has expanded the attack surface. How does Citrix strike the balance between delivering seamless user experience and

maintaining uncompromising security?

Our design philosophy is that security should be invisible unless triggered.

We optimise the user experience by using single-click SSO, intelligent session routing, and adaptive bandwidth shaping, so users rarely see friction.

But behind the scenes, identity and device signals (e.g. device posture, location, risk score) continuously govern access without interrupting legitimate workflows. In high-risk scenarios, step-up authentication or micro-app

WE’VE EVOLVED FROM REMOTE-ACCESS PIONEERS TO MODERN ACCESS SECURITY LEADERS PROTECTING USERS, APPS, AND DATA EVERYWHERE. www.tahawultech.com

isolation can be applied - but only when necessary. Because Citrix delivers apps and desktops at the application layer, we avoid full-blown VPN tunnels that slow traffic and expose entire network segments. We also push heavy lifting TLS termination, inspection, analytics - to edge nodes or ADC layers, so endpoints remain lightweight and responsive. This approach gives users the fluid work experience they expect while maintaining a zero-trust backbone of control.

Cybersecurity is increasingly tied to regulatory frameworks, compliance, and sovereignty—especially in regions like MENA. How is Citrix supporting organisations to stay compliant while ensuring agility?

We embed compliance as a design principle, not an afterthought. Citrix

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supports data sovereignty and locality via flexible deployment options: customers can choose to host in-region, with segregated storage zones or connectors.

Our Trust Center transparently publishes compliance certifications (SOC 2, GDPR, etc.). For government or defense workstreams, Citrix Cloud Government is being advanced toward FedRAMP High standards. We also provide policy guardrails and audit log feeds so organisations can generate compliance reports with minimal friction. In regions with evolving regulation, we partner with

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local legal and compliance bodies to map access controls and data handling to local law. Crucially, we support agile policy updates: when regulation changes, clients can adjust rules centrally and push them globally - in minutes, not months.

Looking ahead, what trends in cybersecurity and secure access will shape the next decade, and how is Citrix preparing to lead in this future?

Over the next decade, three trends will define the trajectory:

• Identity as the new perimeter – identity, context, and behavior will replace IP-based trust.

• Adaptive orchestration and embedded threat response – security systems will increasingly self-heal, shift controls dynamically, and respond autonomously.

• Edge-native zero trust – with hybrid apps distributed across edge, cloud, and IoT, secure access must be embedded at the edge.

Citrix is positioning itself at the convergence of access, networking, and intelligence. We are investing in AI-driven access orchestration, self-protecting workspaces, and decentralised policy fabrics that follow workloads wherever they run. Our architecture is evolving to push trust decisions to the edge nodes and integrate seamlessly with extended ecosystems. We’re also deepening investments in secure device posture (deviceTRUST), secure dev environments (Strong Network), and acquisition-led expansion into threat orchestration spaces. The future is less about perimeter and more about real-time trust — and we intend to lead there.

What advice would you give to CISOs and IT leaders in emerging markets who are struggling to keep pace with both digital transformation and evolving cyber threats?

My advice is threefold: 1. Start with value-tiered zones — prioritise protecting your highest-risk systems (e.g. core apps, customer data) and apply zero-trust controls there first. Don’t try to rearchitect everything at once.

2. Adopt an “adaptive defense” mindset — continuously iterate. Use telemetry, automation, and AI to scale beyond manual controls.

3. Partner-lift locally — work closely with trusted CSPs, local integrators, and security communities to build trust and enable skills transfer.

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13-17 October 2025

H5-5 | Hall 5

Secure the Work

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INTERVIEW / NETWORK BINARY

NETWORK BINARY CHAMPIONS A CULTURE OF DIGITAL RESILIENCE AT GITEX GLOBAL 2025, NETWORK BINARY SHOWCASES ITS EVOLUTION FROM A CYBERSECURITY LEARNING PROVIDER TO A FULL-FLEDGED DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ENABLER, EMPOWERING ORGANISATIONS TO BUILD RESILIENT, ADAPTIVE DEFENCES.

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ybersecurity threats are becoming increasingly complex, driving an urgent need for skilled professionals and adaptive defence strategies. During GITEX Global 2025, Network Binary takes centre stage with a clear message — the company has evolved from a specialist IT learning provider into a full-spectrum digital transformation enabler. Under the leadership of Azeem Ahmad, Founder and CEO, Network Binary is redefining how organisations approach cyber resilience by blending education, consulting, and AI-driven innovation to close the global skills gap and strengthen enterprise security.

This exclusive conversation with Security Advisor Middle East explores Ahmad’s insights on Network Binary’s growth journey, its mission to shape the future of cybersecurity learning, and the company’s commitment to empowering businesses to stay ahead of emerging digital threats.

GITEX Global is a key platform for showcasing innovation and building strategic alliances. What message is Network Binary bringing to GITEX this year, and how does your participation reflect the company’s growth trajectory

across cybersecurity, cloud, and digital transformation?

At GITEX Global 2025, Network Binary is championing the message of “Empowering Digital Resilience through Learning, Consulting, and Cyber Innovation.”

What began as a leading IT and cybersecurity learning provider has evolved into a multi-dimensional company driving transformation across training, consulting, and technology solutions. Our participation at GITEX this year underscores that growth trajectory — from being a learning powerhouse to an end-to-end digital transformation enabler.

As part of the Office Connect Group, we now bring together deep expertise in cybersecurity strategy, cloud migration, penetration testing, AI-led automation, and IT upskilling. Our goal is to help organisations fortify their infrastructures, empower their workforce, and accelerate digital transformation in a secure and sustainable manner.

GITEX is not just a showcase for us — it’s a stage to reaffirm our commitment to bridging the global skills gap, enabling cyber maturity, and forging alliances that drive smarter, safer, and more adaptive enterprises.

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As cybersecurity threats evolve, so must the way professionals learn and adapt. How is Network Binary contributing to the future of learning in cybersecurity, and what initiatives are you driving to close the skills gap in ethical hacking and penetration testing?

At Network Binary, we believe that learning is the first line of defense.

Our flagship Comprehensive Learning Platform is redefining the future of cybersecurity education — serving as a one-stop ecosystem for all IT and cyber learning needs.

• The Student Portal provides seamless access to certified courses, virtual labs, CTF (Capture The Flag) challenges, and performance dashboards.

• The Admin Portal delivers powerful analytics for learning directors and managers to measure skill readiness, plan workforce enablement, and track ROI across teams.

• And our Comprehensive Learning Ecosystem, built on vendor partnerships with Cisco, EC-Council, and CompTIA, ensures learners stay aligned with industry standards and emerging technologies.

This holistic approach — blending skills gap analysis, guided learning pathways, and data-driven analytics — helps organisations and individuals close the cybersecurity talent divide. From ethical hacking to cloud defense, we’re enabling professionals to learn, practice,

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and lead in a constantly evolving digital threat landscape.

Ethical hacking has moved from being a niche skill to a core business capability.

How is Network Binary enabling organisations to adopt ‘Ethical Hacking in Action’ as a proactive defence strategy rather than a compliance exercise?

Network Binary advocates a mindset shift — from reactive defense to proactive resilience. Through our “Ethical Hacking in Action” initiative, we encourage enterprises to let their Red Teams hack their infrastructure, applications, and servers — ethically, legally, and intelligently — before someone else does.

Our ethical hacking and red teaming services simulate real-world attack vectors, identifying vulnerabilities long before they can be exploited. We combine offensive security expertise with AIassisted vulnerability analytics to deliver insights that go beyond compliance checklists.

The goal is to operationalise ethical hacking — transforming it from a periodic audit into a continuous defense mechanism that evolves with every emerging threat. This is how we help organisations turn ethical hacking into a strategic enabler of cyber resilience, rather than a tick-box exercise.

The future of penetration testing is increasingly automated, AI-assisted, and continuous. What is your perspective on how technology — including generative AI — is reshaping the landscape of vulnerability assessment and threat simulation?

The traditional approach of performing penetration tests twice a year is now obsolete. In a world where new vulnerabilities surface daily, organisations need continuous, automated, and AI-driven pentesting solutions operating 24/7, 365 days a year.

At Network Binary, we see Generative AI as a catalyst for this transformation.

It enhances threat modeling, automates reconnaissance, and intelligently prioritises vulnerabilities based on potential impact. By integrating AI-driven

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Azeem Ahmad, Founder and CEO of Network Binary, discusses how the company is shaping the future of cybersecurity learning and AI-driven defence. analytics into our security assessment frameworks, we can simulate thousands of attack vectors within hours, drastically reducing exposure time.

Our vision is to move toward a “living” cybersecurity model — one that is predictive, adaptive, and autonomous, enabling organisations to detect, respond, and recover in real time. The synergy between human expertise and AI innovation is not replacing ethical hackers — it’s amplifying their impact.

Looking beyond GITEX, what are your key priorities for scaling Network Binary in 2025 and beyond — whether in expanding your service portfolio, building strategic training hubs, or strengthening your presence across new markets?

Our roadmap for 2025 and beyond is ambitious yet grounded in our mission — to be a trusted global partner for cybersecurity, consulting, and continuous learning.

Key priorities include: 1. Expanding Our Service Portfolio: Moving beyond learning to include cyber consulting, managed security,

and digital transformation services, offering clients a 360° approach to resilience.

2. Establishing Strategic Learning Hubs: Building regional training and innovation centers across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia to accelerate knowledge transfer and skill development.

3. Technology Partnerships: Strengthening alliances with industry leaders and AI innovators to create smart, data-driven training and security platforms.

4. Market Expansion: Growing our footprint across Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Africa, where the demand for cybersecurity and cloud talent is rapidly increasing.

Network Binary’s evolution reflects a simple but powerful philosophy — we don’t just train for today; we prepare for tomorrow. Through innovation, collaboration, and a human-centered approach to technology, we aim to lead the region’s transformation toward a more secure, skilled, and digitally empowered future.

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RANSOMWARE RESEARCH / VEEAM

Tim Pfaelzer Senior Vice President and General Manager EMEA, Veeam.

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RANSOMWARE PAYMENTS ARE DROPPING, BUT EMEA ORGANISATIONS ARE STILL UNPREPARED FOR ATTACKS DESPITE THE NUMBER OF ORGANISATIONS PAYING RANSOMS DROPPING BY 22% YEAR-ON-YEAR, 63% WOULD STILL BE UNABLE TO RECOVER FROM A SITE-WIDE CRISIS DUE TO A LACK OF ALTERNATIVE INFRASTRUCTURE PLANS.

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eeam has compared regional data from both its 2024 and 2025 Ransomware Trends Reports, which both look back on findings from the previous year, exploring long term ransomware and data resilience trends in EMEA. The data revealed that the number of EMEA organisations paying ransoms dropped by nearly a quarter (22%) from the previous year.

However, this doesn’t necessarily mean organisations are facing fewer attacks.

Instead, improvements in data resilience capabilities and shifting attitudes toward negotiating with attackers are emerging.

Paying ransoms increasingly fails to recover data Comparing the data, it’s clear that organisations are increasingly able to recover data without paying ransoms; in 2023, 14% recovered data without paying a ransom, while in 2024, this doubled to 30%. At the same time, there is a growing sense of reality that paying ransoms does not guarantee that data will be recovered; in 2023, more than half (54%) of EMEA organisations who paid ransoms were able to recover their data, but in 2024, this dropped significantly to just 32% less than a third.

“As attackers remain an untrustworthy method of recovering data, and as organisations improve their data recovery capabilities, it’s no surprise we’re seeing a drop in the number of

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ransoms being paid. But this doesn’t mean the threat from ransomware is over,” said Tim Pfaelzer, Senior Vice President and General Manager EMEA, Veeam. “Attackers will always adapt.

We are seeing some forgo ransomware encryption entirely, instead stealing data to extort money directly or sell it on black markets. For some, financial gain isn’t even the main driver; disruption is.

Payments may drop, but it doesn’t mean attacks will. And our data has clearly shown that significant gaps remain in data resilience, leaving organisations vulnerable.”

Missing Data Resilience measures In the wake of several EU regulations aimed at increasing organisations data resilience, such as NIS2 and DORA for financial services, organisations are taking steps to better prepare for ransomware attacks. But they can’t afford to stand still - there is still important work to be done.

In 2024, only 37% of EMEA organisations had arrangements for alternative infrastructure, meaning 63% still lack those plans. This means that, in the event of a site-wide attack, without alternative infrastructure, these organisations will be unable to recover until the main site is declared clean, which in many cases, could take multiple weeks. In any sector, the complete pause of your operations for multiple weeks spells disaster, both reputationally and

materially. And with recent research suggesting that outages could cost over £1 million per hour of downtime, depending on the size of the company, these are costs few can afford to bear.

“It’s clear that organisations have put recovery at the heart of their data resilience strategy, rather than relying on paying ransoms, which is certainly a step in the right direction.

But there’s more to be done,” added Tim Pfaelzer, SVP & General Manager EMEA at Veeam. “Regulation may have brought data resilience levels up, but organisations need to take it one step further. They should focus on improving baseline data resilience with alternative infrastructure and robust backups to fully negate the need to ever pay ransoms. This way, they can drive lasting and effective improvements to their data resilience.”

Organisations’ standards around data resilience are steadily improving.

Alongside this, law enforcement crackdowns like the high-profile takedown of Lockbit are also disrupting ransomware attackers right at their roots However, there is still work to be done. And organisations need to prioritise implementing key data resilience measures such as alternative infrastructure and secure backups to reach true resilience. Otherwise, when the next attack hits, there might be no payment, but there’ll also be no route to getting back up and running.

OCTOBER 2025

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NEW LAUNCH / KASPERSKY

KASPERSKY INTRODUCES A NEW TRAINING ‘LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS SECURITY’ THE COURSE IS DEVELOPED BY KASPERSKY AI TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH CENTER AND AIMS TO EQUIP CYBERSECURITY PROFESSIONALS WITH THE ESSENTIAL SKILLS TO UNDERSTAND, EVALUATE AND DEFEND AGAINST VULNERABILITIES IN LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS (LLMS).

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he advent of LLMs has revolutionised the way companies develop and interact with Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, while simultaneously introducing new and intricate security challenges. A Kaspersky study has revealed that already in 2024 more than half of companies have implemented AI and Internet of Things (IoT) in their infrastructure. As these technologies become increasingly embedded in corporate systems and processes, understanding how they can be targeted, what vulnerabilities can be exploited for cyber attacks and how to defend against them is no longer optional—it’s a vital skill for cybersecurity professionals.

To address this critical need, Kaspersky has expanded its renowned Cybersecurity Training portfolio with a new online course dedicated to the security of LLMs. Designed to provide a solid foundation in this emerging field, the course equips professionals with the expertise to assess vulnerabilities, implement effective defenses and design resilient AI systems.

Participants will engage with real-world cases and practical assignments, honing their ability to deploy robust security measures and enhance the resilience of LLM-based applications.

The course draws upon the extensive expertise of the Kaspersky AI Technology Research Center, whose specialists have been dedicated to AI in cybersecurity and secure AI for nearly two decades—advancing the detection

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and mitigation of a wide spectrum of threats. Led by Vladislav Tushkanov, Research Development Group Manager at Kaspersky, the program offers an engaging learning experience through compelling video lectures, practical hands-on labs and interactive exercises, enabling participants to...

• Explore exploitation techniques such as jailbreaks, prompt injections and token smuggling to understand how to defend against them.

• Develop practical defense strategies across various levels—model, prompt, system and service.

• Apply structured frameworks for assessing and enhancing LLM security.

This training is useful for those starting their careers in AI cybersecurity,

engineers building or integrating LLMs, and specialists working closely with AI infrastructure.

“The rise of large language models has revolutionised the approach taken by organisations to building and engaging with AI, opening new horizons of possibility. Yet, this technological leap also brings intricate security puzzles that demand immediate attention. For cybersecurity experts, mastering the art of spotting, exploiting and shielding against these vulnerabilities has become a vital craft. That’s why we developed this specialised course—to arm professionals with the insights and hands-on tools necessary to safeguard LLM-driven applications and stay one step ahead of the evolving threat landscape,” says Vladislav Tushkanov.

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Explore a More Intelligent Future

EXPANSION / FORCEPOINT

FORCEPOINT EXPANDS SELF-AWARE DATA SECURITY PLATFORM TO ENTERPRISE DATABASES AND DATA LAKES WITH AINATIVE DSPM

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orcepoint, the global data security leader, announced the expansion of its SelfAware Data Security platform to protect enterprise databases and structured data sources.

With this launch, Forcepoint is the first to extend AI Mesh Data Classification technology across both structured and unstructured data throughout the hybrid enterprise, delivering unified Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) and adaptive data loss prevention in a single platform.

As enterprises accelerate SaaS, cloud and AI adoption, structured data remains a critical blind spot. Databases and data lakes house customer records, financial assets and intellectual property but have lacked consistent visibility and policy enforcement alongside files, emails and SaaS apps. By extending AI Mesh Data Classification to structured sources, Forcepoint enables organisations to discover, classify and remediate risks in real time with a single-policy framework.

With Forcepoint DSPM, enterprises and government agencies can discover and classify regulated and proprietary information across databases, data lakes and files, track its movement and apply safeguards in real time, without

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manual queries or fragmented tools. This automation is enabled by Forcepoint’s AI-native approach to Self-Aware Data Security, which unifies visibility and enforcement in a continuous loop, making security responsive and adaptive, not static.

“At FBD Insurance, looking after our customers has always been our top priority—and Forcepoint looks after us the same way. That’s quite unique,” said Enda Kyne, Chief Technology and Operations Officer at FBD Insurance.

“Forcepoint’s AI-native approach helps our security teams quickly spot and respond to real data risks, while making it easier for data owners to have full confidence in their information assets. As threats grow more sophisticated, having a partner that truly understands our data and delivers data security that can learn, adapt and protect at scale is everything we need.”

A Self-Aware Approach to Data Security Self-Aware Data Security is Forcepoint’s AI-native strategy that turns risk visibility into protection. Rather than separating discovery from enforcement, it creates a continuous, adaptive loop, analysing context, posture and intent, while discovering sensitive data, classifying it,

prioritising risks, remediating exposures, and protecting information across all environments, everywhere people work today. The result is security that knows, adapts and protects automatically as data moves — for example, coaching users in real-time, adjusting access or blocking attempts to share sensitive data externally.

Powered by AI Mesh, Forcepoint delivers precise, explainable and customisable data discovery and classification, while a single-policy framework applies consistent prioritisation, remediation and protection.

In this self-aware architecture, data is governed consistently at rest, in use, and in motion, closing gaps legacy tools leave behind.

“Too many DSPM products stop at reports, making databases invisible to teams,” said Naveen Palavalli, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Forcepoint. “Forcepoint is delivering Self-Aware Data Security that gives organisations consistent visibility, access and control across both structured and unstructured data everywhere. It’s a leap

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forward in understanding dark data and shadow AI, ensuring compliance and unifying security that adapts as risks evolve.”

With the Forcepoint DSPM expansion, organisations can simplify security, reduce risk and cost, and accelerate AI and cloud initiatives with confidence.

Leaders gain insight into where data resides, how it’s accessed and what risks it carries, all in a single, unified system. Compliance teams benefit from nearly 2,000 policy templates, automated reporting and explainable, auditable AI, making it easier to keep pace with complex regulations. Employees work

• Extends industry-first AI Mesh Data Classification to structured data, unifying risk visibility and adaptive enforcement across modern enterprise and distributed data environments • Showcases these innovations at AWARE 2025, the global AI data security conference

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without disruption, knowing sensitive information is protected wherever it moves.

How Forcepoint DSPM Closes Gaps in Controlling AI and Data Risk: • Structured Data Discovery and Classification. Extends Forcepoint’s industry-leading discovery and classification to Microsoft SQL, Oracle, MySQL and other enterprise databases and data lakes like Databricks and Snowflake, unifying risk management across structured and unstructured data.

• Precise Enforcement and Remediation at Scale. Beyond visibility, admins can adjust file permissions, prevent oversharing, move sensitive files to secure repositories, or clean up redundant, outdated or trivial (ROT) data.

Integration with a single-policy framework applies controls across SaaS, email, websites, networks, endpoints, clouds and AI workflows.

• Enterprise-Ready Compliance.

AI Mesh delivers more accurate,

customisable and explainable classification than generic LLM tools. Integration between policy templates, automated reporting and transparent AI logic streamlines compliance and audit readiness while reducing false positives.

• Executive Risk Visibility. Dashboards surface high-level trends in regulated data exposure, helping leaders prioritise mitigation with less overhead.

• Financial-Impact Estimates. An industry-first capability estimates breach or compliance costs, helping leaders prioritise remediation and data access governance.

Forcepoint AWARE 2025 Forcepoint’s premier AI data security user conference a two-day virtual summit provided actionable strategies to safely adopt AI innovations. With highprofile speakers, a dynamic agenda and tailored breakout sessions, attendees will explore how to control AI workflows, simplify compliance, and transform security into a competitive advantage.

OCTOBER 2025

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OPINION / FORTINET

FORTINET REPORT REVEALS CONTINUED RISE IN DATA LOSS DESPITE SMARTER DATA SECURITY PRACTICES AND RECORD CYBERSECURITY SPENDING BUDGETS FOR DATA SECURITY ROSE AT 72% OF ORGANISATIONS LAST YEAR, YET 41% OF ORGANISATIONS STILL LOST MILLIONS TO INSIDER-DRIVEN DATA INCIDENTS

David Lorti Product Marketing Director, Fortinet.

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he 2025 Data Security Report from Fortinet and Cybersecurity Insiders shows that many security leaders are moving beyond a purely tech-driven mindset and adopting a more programmatic approach to protecting sensitive data. Budget trends are positive, with organisations reporting increased funding for insider risk and data protection last year, reflecting success in making the case for investment.

However, despite adopting smarter strategies and allocating stronger budgets, data loss continues to rise.

Seventy-seven percent of organisations reported at least one insider-related incident in the past 18 months, and 58% reported six or more. The question is, why?

The gap is in the tools. While most organisations rely on some form of data loss prevention (DLP), many of these legacy solutions were built for simpler, perimeter-driven environments.

Most lack visibility into how employees actually interact with data—especially in SaaS and generative AI tools—and they miss the context that separates accidents from actual risk.

In today’s distributed, cloud-heavy

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enterprises, those limitations make traditional DLP tools poorly suited for the job.

Spending more, securing less. why?

According to the report, 72% of organisations boosted their budgets to address insider risk and data protection last year, with more than a quarter reporting significant increases. Many also added tools and programmatic initiatives to close gaps. However, nearly half still suffered substantial financial losses, often in the millions of dollars per incident. So, despite these aggressive changes, the problem continues to worsen. The issue isn’t investment. It’s reliance on tools that weren’t built for today’s risks.

Where Traditional DLP Falls Short Traditional DLP tools were designed to prevent regulated data, such as Social Security numbers, credit card details, or medical records, from leaving the organisation. They are largely perimeter-focused and compliancedriven, scanning structured data on-premises because external threats were primarily viewed as external to the organisation.

Today’s reality is different. Sensitive data, including intellectual property, is continually being created and shared across cloud services, SaaS platforms, and AI tools. Analysts move entire customer datasets into spreadsheets. Engineers share design files with contractors. Employees paste confidential data into AI assistants. All of this is normal—and increasingly critical to productivity—but each step carries risk.

Traditional DLP solutions fall short because they: • Lack visibility: 72% of organisations can’t see how employees interact with sensitive data.

• Miss the context behind data at risk: Nearly half of incidents are caused by negligence or error, not malice.

• Operate in silos: Endpoint, email, and network DLPs rarely work together.

• Take too long to deliver value: Three in four organisations wait weeks or months after deployment for meaningful insight.

The result is more alerts, less clarity, and a false sense of control.

The Shift to Behaviour and Context What today’s security leaders need from their DLP tools is context. It’s not enough to know that a file was sent.

You need to know who sent it, why, and whether the action fits normal behaviour. Without that clarity, security teams are left drowning in alerts that don’t tell the whole story.

That’s why security leaders say nextgeneration DLP solutions must include: • Behavioral analytics (66%) to distinguish errors from malicious activity and flag abnormal behavior • Day-one visibility (61%) so insights arrive immediately and inform smarter policy • Shadow AI and SaaS oversight (52%) to close gaps where sensitive data often flows unnoticed Modern DLP platforms must connect individual events into risk narratives, enabling teams to identify patterns, prioritise risks, and act with confidence.

MODERN DLP PLATFORMS MUST CONNECT INDIVIDUAL EVENTS INTO RISK NARRATIVES, ENABLING TEAMS TO IDENTIFY PATTERNS, PRIORITISE RISKS, AND ACT WITH CONFIDENCE. www.tahawultech.com

This marks a shift from static enforcement to behavior-aware visibility that shows what’s happening and why it matters.

The Real Stakes Data loss is a business risk, not just a compliance issue—it affects revenue, trust, and long-term viability.

Nearly half of organisations reported direct financial losses from insider-driven incidents. Forty-one percent estimated losses of $1–10 million for their most significant incident, and 9% reported losses above $10 million. Forty-three percent suffered reputational damage, while 39% experienced operational disruption. In sectors like biotech and manufacturing, a single leaked dataset or design file can wipe out years of investment and erase a competitive edge.

Many organisations still run a patchwork of tools—often anchored on legacy DLP—that doesn’t fit today’s complex environments and creates unnecessary complexity and workload for security teams.

The Way Forward The report is clear: Though security teams are implementing smarter approaches and winning support and budget from executive leaders, organisations are still experiencing damaging insider risk incidents at an unacceptable rate.

The likely culprit? An over-reliance on legacy data loss prevention solutions that haven’t evolved with today’s complex environments and data security needs.

Today’s organisations need a platform that unifies DLP with insider risk management, delivering realtime, behavior-aware visibility across endpoints, SaaS, cloud, and AI. Fortinet integrates identity, access, and activity data through FortiDLP and the Fortinet Security Fabric to give teams the clarity they need to stop small mistakes from becoming costly breaches.

Programs will keep evolving, but real progress depends on choosing platforms that deliver answers—not just alerts.

OCTOBER 2025

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EXPANSION / FORTINET

FORTINET SECURES DUBAI ENGLISH SPEAKING SCHOOL’S NEW ACADEMIC CITY CAMPUS WITH INTEGRATED NETWORKING AND SECURITY SOLUTIONS DEPLOYMENT SUPPORTS GROWTH, DELIVERS CENTRALIZED NETWORK MANAGEMENT, AND STRENGTHENS CYBERSECURITY FOR HYBRID LEARNING IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR

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ortinet, the global networking and security into a single cybersecurity leader platform, Fortinet’s technology driving the convergence and solutions help educational of networking and institutions overcome operational and security, today cybersecurity challenges, so they can announced that DESS Primary stay focused on their core mission of Academic City (DESS) has teaching and learning,” added Shadi implemented the Fortinet Security Khuffash Senior Regional Director of Fabric platform at its new primary South Middle East at Fortinet. school campus in Dubai Academic Delivered in close collaboration City. The deployment helps DESS with Fortinet’s regional partner expand access for its growing student ecosystem, the project ensured population while keeping the learning that DESS benefited not only from Shadi Khuffash Senior Regional Director of South environment secure and digitally advanced technology but also from Middle East at Fortinet. connected. tailored implementation and ongoing The solution brings together support. This partnership helped FortiGate Next Generation Firewall, learning and potential AI misuse create new the school achieve a smooth deployment FortiSwitches, FortiAPs and FortiVoice demands for protection. Fortinet’s Unified while keeping day-to-day operations into one centrally managed platform for Threat Management supports organizations uninterrupted. networking and communications. This by simplifying networking security for “Our work with DESS demonstrates the approach simplifies daily IT operations, organizations with challenging networking value of combining Fortinet’s technology unifies security across wired and wireless requirements, as particularly found in with our regional expertise,” said Ramesh networks and provides full visibility for educational institutions with its multitude of Belani, CEO from Maxtouch. “With a strong the school’s IT team. It also improves different access points. product portfolio, reliable support and troubleshooting, enhances threat detection “At DESS, our priority is to create an competitive pricing, we’re able to deliver and supports hybrid learning with the environment where students and teachers solutions that give schools confidence in flexibility to scale as DESS’s needs evolve. can focus fully on learning, without worrying both their security and their day-to-day By consolidating networking, security and about connectivity or security,” said Malachy operations.” voice infrastructure, the school has reduced McGrogan, Assistant Headteacher and Fortinet continues to empower IT workload, improved reliability and built a Director of Technology, at DESS. “Fortinet’s educational institutions across the strong foundation for modern, connected platform allows us to manage our Middle East with reliable, secure digital education. infrastructure more efficiently while making infrastructure. By addressing both Educational institutions face a variety of sure our community can benefit from digital operational and security challenges, security challenges, from external attacks to learning in a safe and reliable way.”

Fortinet enables schools to remain focused internal risks. Students and visitors bringing “This deployment is part of Fortinet’s on their core mission, delivering highmultiple devices onto campus can introduce wider work with the education sector quality teaching and learning in a digitally vulnerabilities. At the same time, hybrid across the Middle East. By converging connected world.

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EXPANSION / PURE STORAGE

PURE STORAGE EXPANDS CYBER RESILIENCE THROUGH NEW INNOVATIONS, PARTNERSHIPS EXPANDED CYBER RISK CAPABILITIES IMPROVE ORGANISATIONS’ ABILITY TO ANTICIPATE, ADDRESS, AND RECOVER FROM TODAY’S MOST SOPHISTICATED CYBER THREATS.

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ure Storage, the IT pioneer that delivers the world’s most advanced data storage technology and services, has announced new innovations in the Pure Storage platform, along with deeper partner integrations, which deliver significantly improved cyber resilience. This integrated and connected strategy provides organisations with a unified defense to proactively detect threats, protect against destructive attacks, and recover with confidence.

The standard approach to cyber defense—bolting on multi-vendor solutions that exclude the storage platform—does not work. This model leaves organisations vulnerable, missing crucial threat signals hidden in their data. Without native threat detection capabilities at the storage layer, it’s difficult to quickly detect and remediate attacks before they cripple critical infrastructure. The Pure Storage platform now provides built-in abilities to detect, respond and recover rapidly, and leverages an extensive partner ecosystem that integrates best-ofbreed cyber security and data protection solutions.

Today’s news builds on Pure Storage’s recent introduction of the Enterprise Data Cloud (EDC), a new architectural approach that helps organisations solve their data management challenges now and in the future. With an EDC architecture, IT teams centrally manage a virtualised cloud of data with unified control — spanning on-premises, public

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detecting and stopping threats at the data layer. Pure Storage is building an extended-threat network to share bi-directional threat signals with our ecosystem of partners. These detection capabilities then integrate seamlessly into existing built-in security tools and workflows.

Charles Giancarlo, Chairman and CEO, Pure Storage. cloud, and hybrid — enabling intelligent, autonomous data management, and governance across the entire environment.

“The Pure Storage platform transforms your global storage environment into an Enterprise Data Cloud, supporting your AI and data security strategies,” said Charles Giancarlo, Chairman and CEO, Pure Storage. “Data architecture is a strategic decision. Business success depends on leveraging data — and how teams can effectively manage and secure it across their global data estate.”

Stop attacks before they spread via an extended threat detection network With increased activity in the ransomware and threat landscape, an organisation’s storage platform must become an active component of security architecture -

• Real-Time Security for MissionCritical Data with CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM Integration.

Pure Storage and CrowdStrike are working together to strengthen security in mission-critical storage environments. By ingesting storage data from Pure Storage arrays into Falcon Next-Gen SIEM, joint customers will gain real-time visibility and automated response — instantly updating policies, isolating systems, and securing replication to stop attacks before they impact critical operations.

NEW: File and User Monitoring and Remediation with Superna.

Pure Storage has also partnered with Superna to provide file and user monitoring that specifically targets attacks like data exfiltration or doubleextortion ransomware. Integrated with Pure Storage FlashArray and FlashBlade, Superna Data Security Essentials provides automated, real-time threat detection and response at the data layer. Compromised accounts are instantly locked when malicious activity is detected, and security policies are enforced automatically.

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