Knowledge sharing, collaboration vital to fending off cyberattacks, experts highlight at Gisec Global 2023

Top regional and global information security officers discussed creating a ‘community of action’ and chalked out strategies to help digital businesses in the region build cyberresilience at the Gisec CISO Circle, part of Gisec Global 2023.

Held on day two of the event under the theme of ‘Building a united cyber frontier’, the CISO Circle agreed that collaboration and information sharing within the cybersecurity industry is critical to tackling cybercrime, now a constant threat in the digital age. Since its launch last year, the CISO Circle has brought together like-minded security experts from diverse sectors to exchange insights on tackling cybersecurity challenges and address critical priorities reinforcing business, economic, and national security agendas. The panellists at this year’s CISO Circle were H.E. Dr. Mohamed Al-Kuwaiti,

Head of the UAE Cybersecurity Council; Dr. Aloysius Cheang, CSO, Huawei Middle East & Central Asia; and Hadi Anwar, Chief Cyber Defence Officer, CPX. Addressing the CISOs in his keynote speech, H.E. Dr. Al-Kuwaiti, stressed the importance of partnerships and collaborations based on the values of trust and transparency to achieve the common goal of building better cyber resilience.

Speaking at the Gisec Mainstage, Amer Sharaf, Director, Compliance, Support and Alliances, Dubai Electronic Security Center, discussed the public and private sectors’ efforts to digitally transform Dubai into the safest city in the world.

Hardware hacker, tech wizard, and author, Joe ‘Kingpin’ Grand, explained to the audience his hardware hacking mindset and showed live demonstrations of some of the more common hacking techniques.

H.E. Dr. Al-Kuwaiti was meanwhile recognised and celebrated by hundreds of cyber leaders from across the world for his outstanding contributions towards advancing global cybersecurity and digital transformation. Dr. Al-Kuwaiti, who is also the Head of Cyber Security for the UAE Government, was presented with the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards’ Global Leadership Award at Gisec Global’s Mainstage, in recognition of his bold mission to spread cyber awareness and culture, develop cyber talent, empower cross-border collaboration, and position the UAE at the forefront of international cyber resilience

The annual three-day super-connector is hosted by the UAE Cybersecurity Council and organised by DWTC, and takes place amid a rapidly expanding Middle East cybersecurity market that, according to analysts Frost & Sullivan, will grow in value from US$7.5 billion in 2022 to US$31 billion by 2030, clocking 20 percent annual growth.

At Gisec Global 2023 H.E. Dr. Mohamed Hamad Al-Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security, UAE Government pointed out Gisec as one of the most important events which is not only for the government but also for the companies which are helping us to achieve that resiliency. Today the sectors like healthcare, education, oil and gas, electricity, water, transportation, and aviation are going through digital transformation.

The main focus of digital transformation is that if one didn’t do it in the right manner there is a great chance of attacks. It can be easily exploited and hacked. It is not only a threat to the person but also to the government and companies that work for them. They are together here in Gisec to send one message only, which is cyber security culture. He also adds that one should need to have that culture in their DNA and need to integrate cybersecurity in every single move. This is actually what we see in every platform and network, especially in the vendors. They actually introduce great cyber operation center where they actually have the visibility of the attack and where they are coming from, how they respond to them, and which sector is highly impacted. He concludes by saying that we are really in an attack and we need to take precautions, be vigilant, and should be aware of that attacks.