IDC Middle East Security Roadshow Elevating the Security of the Future Enterprise

As enterprises migrate applications and data to the cloud and adapt to a larger remote workforce, managing a network perimeter is becoming more costly and complicated. Today, more workloads in a modern enterprise are run and accessed from "outside the castle" than from the inside. Why are enterprises still spending money applying band-aids to an increasingly ineffective moat rather than applying a zero-trust approach everywhere? What are the challenges of managing a secure network and routing all traffic through it today, along with a new vision for how to utilize a cloud-native network at the internet edge to connect users to resources securely without performance trade-offs?

Digital innovation, 5G, IoT, blockchain, AI... All these technologies have something in common – they accelerate the expansion of the digital attack surface. New working styles (home, hybrid), machine-to-machine communications (APIs), software-defined WAN/LAN transformation, hybrid clouds and multicloud, and industrial digitalization have facilitated many new use cases not considered previously by most security vendors. It is time for a broad, integrated, and automated cybersecurity architecture that consolidates technologies, provides holistic visibility and control via integration, and utilizes automation to respond to threats.

Ransomware is a pervasive threat to your business continuity and the attack is a classic ticking-clock scenario. It has already struck companies of all sizes across industries and around the world. A complete ransomware strategy includes both reducing the risk of a successful attack and lessening the impact of an attack that does succeed. This session will explore all the latest developments around ransomware attacks, from threats to trends to readiness assessments.

The dramatic acceleration of digitalization has challenged organizations to adapt to new ways of maintaining and increasing end-user productivity. Securing endpoints has become a priority as the workforce becomes increasingly dispersed, with employees working in a hybrid mode from both the office and their homes. What challenges have been brought about by the dramatic shift to enabling a mobile and productive workforce, and what best-practice strategies can be delayed to address any potential threats head on.

Over the past two years, IT departments, corporate management, and end users have endured numerous challenges, with the overnight switch to hybrid working practices being a prime example. This significant shift in workstyle moved the attack vector outside of the office, exposing end users to new vulnerabilities. Around the world, threat actors are continuously developing new attack strategies, exploiting every vector possible and testing zero trust strategies to their limits. Understanding how current events and the multiple entry points utilized by threat actors impact an organization's attack surface can make the difference between a data breach and a successful cyber defense. 

Predictive artificial intelligence (AI) prevents the execution of previously unknown, known, and custom malware and payloads, signature free. Only advanced machine learning providing native artificial intelligence can ensure a prevent-first approach against zero-day cyberthreats with the required speed and agility to secure effective end-to-end defense within an extended organization. As such, organizations are increasingly looking to improve visibility across all sources of data by using new frameworks such as XDR to stay ahead of the multiple threat vectors being employed.  

Threat intelligence services are an essential part of the cybersecurity ecosystem. Organizations are struggling to build intelligence capabilities and structure public and private data in a way that is relevant to them, their industry, and their regional circumstances. This session will explore how organizations can efficiently acquire threat intelligence from the right sources with the right methods, while also explaining how threat intelligence can be acted on correctly to hunt for threats and indicators inside your own premises.

As today's technology environment grows more and more complex, and security threats continue to reach new heights, a strong username and password are no longer enough. How are identity management systems increasingly incorporating elements of biometrics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and risk-based authentication to address this critical challenge?

Great technology is meaningless if professionals have trouble using the tools. Security operations centers are still process driven. Vendors would be wise to have integration modules to interconnect with other industry-leading software platforms. Anything that reduces work in the SOC – from better contextual awareness provided in software analytics to better dashboards and case management tools to more automated processes within platforms – will be viewed positively by businesses requiring cybersecurity products and services.