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IDC Security Roadshow

Preparing for a New Era of Cyberthreats

Overview

Security-focused technologies have come a long way thanks to massive technological leaps and the adoption of a digital-first approach to business. Over the coming few years, the pace of rapid change and digital acceleration is expected to gain even more momentum. Today, IT security professionals face numerous challenges such as the need to protect a distributed workforce, an internet that is faster than ever before (5G), interconnectivity that is increasing in complexity, and customers looking for immersive experiences and greater security for their data with stricter government regulations in place.

In the face of this volatile and shifting threat landscape, organizations across Saudi Arabia are diligently working to strengthen their security postures and support innovation. They are investing more and more in security services to meet the challenges that come with limited numbers of security specialists, higher numbers of remote workers, changing compliance and regulatory requirements, new hybrid environments, accelerating cloud investments, and the complexities of next-generation technologies.

The 2023 edition of the IDC Security Roadshow will explore Saudi's security landscape, showcase the very latest in security innovation, and bring together some of the world's foremost cybersecurity experts.

UAE

Agenda

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Monday June 5, 2023
8:00

Registration & Networking - Arrive early to claim your exclusive early bird gift
9:00

Welcome Address
9:05

IDC Keynote: Shaping Security Strategies for the Digital-First Organization
9:20

Protecting what’s now and what’s next -Adapt and overcome with Security Resilience
9:40

Securing Your Cloud Environment: Best Practices and Emerging Techniques
10:00

The Increased Complexity in the Modern Cyber Security Landscape
10:15

Transform the SOC by re-thinking the SIEM
10:35

Tea / Coffee & Networking Break
11:05

Platinum Partner Tracks (Parallel Sessions)
11:55

Tea / Coffee & Networking
12:30

Gold Partner Tracks (Parallel Sessions)
14:05

Mega Raffle (iPhone 14)
14:10

Lunch & Networking
14:55

End of Conference

Venue

Fairmont Riyadh
Area, Business Gate, Qurtubah, Riyadh 11552

Speakers

Hamza Naqshbandi

Associate Vice President, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain

Shilpi Handa

Associate Research Director (META), IDC

Fady Younes

Regional Cybersecurity Director, EMEAR SP and MEA, Cisco

Bazel El Sharif

Chief Business Officer, Bespin Global

Abdulaziz Alamri

B2B MSS Manager, Sirar by stc

Frederic Nakhlé

Sr. Director System Engineer Cortex EMEA and LATAM, Palo Alto

Hussam Abu-Rida

Technical Director (MENA), TXOne

Sohel Almozaini

Security Technical Leader, IBM

Dimitris Vergos

Area Vice President, Sales Engineering, Splunk

Mohamed Saif

Expert in Cyber Resiliency and Data Protection, Dell Technologies

Mohammad Abu Jarour

Security Head – South EMEA, VMware

Glenn Wilkinson

World Renowned Security Expert & Ethical Hacker

Bader Shaath

Senior Sales Engineer, Cloudflare

Haythm Al Shehab

Senior Security Specialist, Randori, an IBM Company

Sami Hasanain Show full profile linkedin

Sami Hasanain

Senior SE, Swimlane

Ozair Rashid

Senior Solutions Engineer, (META), SentinelOne

Feras Alqaisi

Head of Presales, Kaspersky

Yazan Hammoudah

Director, Security Engineering, Vectra AI

Nour Fateen

Director, Sales Engineering, Recorded Future

Amr Ahmed Mahmoud Mohamed Masoud

Senior Systems Engineer, Versa Networks

Bader Alkhaldi

OT Cybersecurity Project Manager, Saudi Aramco

Mohammed AlShehri

CISO, Al-Amthal Financing Company

Weam Munshi

Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Buruj Cooperative Insurance Company

Shahin Hashim

Associate Research Director, Enterprise Infrastructure and Datacenters Practice, IDC Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META)

Eng. Khalid Alfaheid

CISO, Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture (MEWA)

Wael Ahmed Fattouh

CISO, Bank Al Jazira

Dr. Nasser Alamri

Cybersecurity Executive Director, Institute of Public Administration (IPA)

Uzair Mujtaba

Sr Program Manager, IDC

Eng.Adly Al-Sharif

CISO, National Events Center (NEC)

Anas Mosa

IT Director, Public Investment Fund–Projects

Fahad Alqarni

Cybersecurity Manager at Government entity

Shilpi Handa

Associate Research Director, IDC

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Partners

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Knowledge Hub

Analyst Spotlight
The Impact of Cybersecurity on Saudi Arabia's Digital Transformation Landscape

Hamza Naqshbandi,
Associate Vice President, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, IDC

While the digital transformation that has accompanied Saudi Arabia’s diversification drive has undoubtedly created many opportunities, it has simultaneously opened the door to an unprecedented array of threats. The Kingdom has made significant strides in tackling some of the inherit challenges brought about by the post-pandemic New Normal, but it is important to remember that cybersecurity will always be a continuous journey, not a destination.

Analyst Spotlight
The Impact of Cybersecurity on Saudi Arabia's Digital Transformation Landscape

Hamza Naqshbandi,
Associate Vice President, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, IDC

While the digital transformation that has accompanied Saudi Arabia’s diversification drive has undoubtedly created many opportunities, it has simultaneously opened the door to an unprecedented array of threats. The Kingdom has made significant strides in tackling some of the inherit challenges brought about by the post-pandemic New Normal, but it is important to remember that cybersecurity will always be a continuous journey, not a destination.

As Saudi organizations continue to transform and modernize, the pressure to physically redistribute and move data away from the comfort zone will only be intensified by the widespread adoption of emerging computing paradigms like cloud, edge, and ubiquitous computing. The threat landscape will continue to evolve both in sophistication and complexity, with targeted attacks like phishing, data leakage, ransomware, and IoT device compromises continuing to test the digital resilience of organizations in the Kingdom.

Given the proliferation of remote work models, the rapid pace of emerging technology adoption (5G, IoT, AI/ML), and the growing availability of offensive tools, progressive organizations will need a combination of robust data security, protection, and recovery practices to assure data survival and recovery against cyberattacks. As a result, enhancing cloud security, exploiting security automation, and encouraging the broader supply chain to be cybersecure while protecting the organization will all become key focus areas for CISOs in Saudi Arabia.

Analyst Spotlight
A New Approach to Security in the Post-Pandemic World

Frank Dickson,
Group Vice President, Security & Trust, IDC

As we enter 2023, we can finally, for the most part, put reactionary moves due to COVID-19 behind us as the disease moves from a pandemic to an endemic part of daily life. We have accepted that digital transformation moved at a feverish pace, transitioning our enterprises to digital first years before we anticipated. The possibilities of remote work gave way to the reality that hybrid work is here to stay. These are truths that we have accepted.

Analyst Spotlight
A New Approach to Security in the Post-Pandemic World

Frank Dickson,
Group Vice President, Security & Trust, IDC

As we enter 2023, we can finally, for the most part, put reactionary moves due to COVID-19 behind us as the disease moves from a pandemic to an endemic part of daily life. We have accepted that digital transformation moved at a feverish pace, transitioning our enterprises to digital first years before we anticipated. The possibilities of remote work gave way to the reality that hybrid work is here to stay. These are truths that we have accepted.

The economic headwinds we are experiencing have re-energized a trend that was muted by the pandemic. The C-suite appreciates the value and importance of security both now and into the future. C-level executives are actively planning continued investments in security to ensure the viability of their enterprises. However, C-level executives are growing tired of the continually growing financial appetite of security and are looking to reduce spending when and where possible. They are demanding accountability for the spend; in essence, they are looking for secure outcomes that are measurable and meaningful.

The result of this security confluence is a migration of approaches. The breach detection mindset of the past is giving way to a view that positions security as a way of improving an organization's cyber-risk posture, a posture that is tightly coupled with the goals of the organization and decreasing business risk. In its 2023 Future of Trust FutureScape, IDC predicted that by 2025, 45% of CEOs, fatigued by security spending without predictable ROI, will demand security metrics and results measurement to assess and validate investments made in their security program.

The IDC Saudi Arabia IT Security 2023 will look to address security in this new reality. We will help guide you in working with the CEO and boards of directors as we transition to delivering secure outcomes and a trusted organization to our executive constituencies.

Analyst Spotlight
The Key Trends Shaping Security in 2023

Shilpi Handa,
Associate Research Director (META), IDC

In 2022, geopolitics was at the forefront of driving cybersecurity initiatives, and cyber-resiliency was one of the hottest cybersecurity strategies being talked about throughout the year. As we transition through 2023, we are still seeing geopolitical-driven cybersecurity trends as businesses are planning their cyber-recovery and cyber-continuation strategies with the issue of digital sovereignty firmly in mind.

Analyst Spotlight
The Key Trends Shaping Security in 2023

Shilpi Handa,
Associate Research Director (META), IDC

In 2022, geopolitics was at the forefront of driving cybersecurity initiatives, and cyber-resiliency was one of the hottest cybersecurity strategies being talked about throughout the year. As we transition through 2023, we are still seeing geopolitical-driven cybersecurity trends as businesses are planning their cyber-recovery and cyber-continuation strategies with the issue of digital sovereignty firmly in mind.

While digital sovereignty has placed a sharp focus on in-country IT operation capabilities, this is actually a much broader topic than just data sovereignty. Indeed, across the Middle East, we are increasingly seeing providers adopt strategies that are focused on sovereign clouds.

Another unmissable trend to look out for in 2023 will be the adoption of generative AI within customer security strategies. We are already seeing vendors launch generative AI assistance for security operations, and this will be a groundbreaking trend as it hits directly at the heart of the security skills challenge that the region has been facing for almost half of the last decade. At IDC, we are confident that the adoption of generative AI will positively disrupt the security operations space over the coming years.

The final most promising trend that will shape security in 2023 centers around attack surface management. The rate of IT spending is scaling massively across the region — so much so that it is hard to keep track of digitalization and all the associated assets, including on-premises servers, endpoints, mobiles, cloud, IoT, third-party solutions, and OT devices.

As the proliferation is becoming unmanageable and increasingly complex, there is an absolute need for a uniform attack management strategy, starting right from knowing which assets are in place across the organization and then managing the vulnerabilities and threats across this infrastructure in a continual fashion.

The IDC Saudi Arabia IT Security 2023 will look to brainstorm some of these emerging areas and address the issue of security in this new reality.

Analyst Spotlight
Drivers of Managed Detection and Response Services in Saudi Arabia

Shahin Hashim,
Associate Research Director (META), IDC

Over the years, security operations center as a service (SOCaaS) has evolved from a reactive model to a proactive, hyper-automated managed detection and response (MDR) service. This means that MDR providers now go beyond simply detecting and responding to security incidents; they are now actively hunting for potential threats, using advanced AI and analytics tools to identify and prioritize the most critical risks to a business.

Analyst Spotlight
Drivers of Managed Detection and Response Services in Saudi Arabia

Shahin Hashim,
Associate Research Director (META), IDC

Over the years, security operations center as a service (SOCaaS) has evolved from a reactive model to a proactive, hyper-automated managed detection and response (MDR) service. This means that MDR providers now go beyond simply detecting and responding to security incidents; they are now actively hunting for potential threats, using advanced AI and analytics tools to identify and prioritize the most critical risks to a business.

This shift towards a proactive approach has enabled MDR providers to mitigate potential threats before they become full-blown security incidents. By automating much of the process, MDR providers are able to respond to incidents much faster than traditional SOCs, and with greater accuracy.

Organizations in Saudi Arabia often face significant challenges in keeping up with the constantly evolving security threat landscape. The rapid pace of digital adoption across industries, the proliferation of connected devices, and the increased adoption of cloud services have all added to the already complex threat landscape that CISOs in the Kingdom have to address.

In addition, CISOs in Saudi Arabia are facing an increasingly complex cybersecurity technology landscape, which is making it difficult to keep pace with the rapid innovations and changes in security technology ecosystems. A higher need for security automation, as well as the need for AI/ML models in SOCs, adds to the complexity. Furthermore, attracting and retaining top cybersecurity talent is difficult in an increasingly competitive market, which makes it harder for organizations to stay ahead of potential threats.

IDC's Security Survey 2023, conducted across various industries in Saudi Arabia, revealed that many organizations are facing critical challenges when it comes to running effective security operations. Among these challenges, skill shortages were identified as a major concern for 50% of organizations in the Kingdom. Other complex challenges include the need to ensure regulatory compliance, manage continuous enhancements to security technology platforms, maintain hyper-automated SOCs, and improve the security posture of operational technology (OT) and cloud technologies, all while coming under increasing budgetary pressures.

As a result of these complex challenges, there is a growing need for organizations to engage professional security entities that can provide MDR services. By partnering with MDR service providers, organizations can leverage advanced AI and analytics tools, access specialized security professionals, and tailor their cyber-risk strategies to meet their own individual needs. This proactive approach to cybersecurity addresses many of the complex challenges facing today's CISOs and guarantees better security outcomes for their organizations.

Partner Spotlight
Cloud Security: Protecting Your Data in the Cloud

Bazel El Sharif,
Chief Business Officer, Bespin Global

Data security is a big concern for companies of all sizes. With the rise of cloud computing, more businesses rely on cloud storage for their data. But how secure is the cloud? What measures can you take to protect your data in the cloud? In this article, we will look at the basics of cloud security and discuss some measures you can take to protect your data in the cloud.

Partner Spotlight
Cloud Security: Protecting Your Data in the Cloud

Bazel El Sharif,
Chief Business Officer, Bespin Global

Data security is a big concern for companies of all sizes. With the rise of cloud computing, more businesses rely on cloud storage for their data. But how secure is the cloud? What measures can you take to protect your data in the cloud? In this article, we will look at the basics of cloud security and discuss some measures you can take to protect your data in the cloud.

What is Cloud Security?
Cloud security is the practice of protecting data stored and processed within cloud computing environments. It involves a set of policies and technologies designed to protect data from unauthorized access, misuse, and other security threats. Cloud security — that is, ensuring that data stored in the cloud is safe and secure — is essential to cloud computing.

Types of Cloud Security
Cloud security can be divided into three main categories:
1. Data Security: Data security protects data stored in the cloud from unauthorized users, malicious software, and other security threats. Data security measures include encryption, authentication, access control, and data loss prevention.
2. Infrastructure Security: Infrastructure security is the process of protecting underlying cloud infrastructure from threats, including malicious software, unauthorized access, and other security threats. Infrastructure security measures include firewalling, vulnerability scanning, and system hardening.
3. Compliance: Compliance ensures that cloud environments adhere to industry regulations and standards and guarantees that data stored in the cloud is secure. Compliance measures include audit logs, third-party assessments, and other security measures.

How to Protect Your Data in the Cloud
1. Encrypt: Encryption is the process of encoding data to make it unreadable to unauthorized users. Encryption can be used to protect data stored in the cloud as well as data in transit.
2. Enforce Access Control: Access control grants or denies access to data stored in the cloud based on user roles and permissions. Access control measures include user authentication, role-based access control, and two-factor authentication.
3. Plan for Backup and Disaster Recovery: Organizations should create and maintain data backups stored in the cloud. This would ensure that data can be recovered in the event of data loss, corruption, or a security breach.
4. Carry Out System Monitoring: The cloud environment should be constantly monitored for suspicious activity, including unauthorized access attempts, malicious software, and other security threats.

Conclusion
Cloud security is an integral part of cloud computing. By taking the necessary steps to protect data in the cloud, you can ensure that data is safe and secure.

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