'UAE remains a very lucrative target for cyber attackers', says Emircom's Abou Zaki

In conversation with Mohamad Abou Zaki, Chief Executive Officer, Emircom

How has the IT Security landscape evolved in UAE in the aftermath of the pandemic?

COVID-19 has permanently changed organizational culture and behavior. Many organizations have responded to the impacts of the pandemic by investing in IT and cyber controls to manage the risks introduced by the rapid adoption of cloud and remote working solutions. The leaders of these organizations realized they were not prepared for cyber risk, though initially, they thought that they were in control. As a result, cyber threats reported to the management of organizations rose significantly, necessitating deeper insights into their organization’s cyber security.

With the COVID-19 pandemic presenting a range of unique challenges, the cyber risk landscape will continue to change. UAE remains a very lucrative target for cyber attackers, and business leaders need to stay focused on all cyber risks within their organizations and implement appropriate strategies to mitigate the same.

What are your four significant predictions for the global IT Security landscape?

While we expect many changes to unfold, here are some of the major forecasts:

Security budgets will increase as COVID-19 comes under control, but staffing will continue to be a challenge.

Automation will become part of security tools.

Companies that do not embrace the zero-trust security model will pay dearly.

Ransomware will continue to evolve and will adapt to hit cloud repositories.

How do you envision the future of Emircom- security?

To support our customers. Emircom has already developed a holistic portfolio for the current and future security requirements of our customers. As security threat dynamics evolve regularly, we keep adapting and adding new solutions and services to counter these threats. Apart from traditional security solutions, Emircom emphasizes attention to security incident monitoring services and cloud migration services.

Emircom has developed and implemented a local private cloud with a single and comprehensive platform to provide integrated solutions such as SOC, MDR, and brand protection to our customers. To be in line with UAE cyber security regulations requirements, this integrated platform will be in UAE. Emircom’s one integrated SOC platform will provide monitoring services to an organization’s network and address potential threats to sensitive data, computing systems, and other digital resources. Emircom’s SOC-as-a-Service takes