• Cyber security expert reveals businesses can expect to face sophisticated attacks and breaches at some point, if they have not already.
• CISO Council partners with MEFTECH and will highlight ways to prevent breaches and methods to minimize the impact of them at MEFTECH 2017.
• Data protection and cloud security will be two of the topics discussed at the leading financial technology event.

Abu Dhabi, 19th February 2017:  Cybercrime is not a new phenomenon, it’s just getting more sophisticated and severe with organized cyber criminals working as an industry. All businesses have either suffered or will face a cyber-attack or breach. It’s also true that some may have already been breached without knowing it, according to a regional expert in cyber security. 

Ahmed Baig, the Co-Founder of CISOCONNECT and founder of CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) Council, says that sophisticated hackers tend to be a step ahead and this is not likely to change in the near future, but businesses can minimize the risk of an attack and the impact of a breach by ensuring incident response preparedness and due diligence before adopting new technologies.  

CISO Council will be hosting an invitation-only roundtable discussion with cyber security executives from the region alongside a prestigious financial technology event in March, as well as sharing an insight into the current threat landscape with the senior banking executives in attendance.

More than 1,000 board level guests from some of the financial institutes in the region will attend MEFTECH 2017 in Abu Dhabi in March. The two-day conference and exhibition will showcase various innovative technology, some of which can help protect against the rise of sophisticated hackers.

Ahmed Baig, whose day-to-day role is Chief Security & Strategy Officer at Emirsec Technologies, said: “Data is the new oil in the Middle East, it must be protected at all cost and it’s absolutely vital that business leaders understand the importance of cybersecurity and how to protect their businesses from this very common and costly issue. 

“Security breaches have increased across the globe in recent years as sophisticated hackers have stayed a step ahead and this is not likely to change in the near future. It is a sad fact of corporate life these days that businesses will have suffered from or will face a cyber security breach at some point and some may even have been hacked without knowing it. 

“However, what is important is that security officers and business leaders do all they can to prevent these attacks and if the worst should happen they respond to the breaches efficiently while minimizing the impact. Regional organizations have to be more resilient in the face of these emerging risks to stay in business and thrive while competing in the digital landscape.

“If a business suffers a breach due to a Zero Day attack – or brand new method of attack – it is understandable as it has not been faced before and may not have been avoidable with existing detection controls, but if the breach is something that has been encountered before through a known weakness then it is a sign that due diligence has not been carried out or the appropriate steps have not been taken to protect the systems.”

The executive audience attending MEFTECH 2017 are being urged to pay close attention to the dedicated security briefings, where two major topics of conversation will be Data Protection and Cloud Security. 

Ahmed continued: “As we have seen from various negative case studies from around the world cyber security breaches have cost firms millions or even billions of dollars and this is of particular importance in the financial services sector where innovative technologies are an answer as well a challenge from security perspective. 

“One very good example of this is the rapid adoption of cloud technology, which has seen data being moved outside physical perimeter of a business to a third party cloud that requires adequate security and compliance to data protection and sovereignty laws. 

“It’s absolutely imperative that executives leading financial institutions in the Middle East are aware of these types of challenges and ways to address them. I believe MEFTECH 2017 will be the perfect event to raise awareness amongst this type of audience and I hope the delegates will find my presentation on the threat landscape useful as a tool to adjust their own approach.”

Chris Fountain, Managing Director of Turret Media, organizers of the MEFTECH 2017, said: “We’re delighted that the CISO Council will be partners to the event, as cyber security is such a hot topic in financial services. 

“I’m sure the delegates attending the briefings will get a lot from it and may well decide they need to strengthen their cyber security as a result.”

MEFTECH is an invite only event taking place the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre on 13-14 March.