Agenda

08.00 - 08.50

Breakfast & networking break
08.50 - 09.00

Chairs welcome remarks
09.00 - 09.20

►Digital Revolution: The Rise of Cybersecurity

H.E. Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security for the United Arab Emirates Government - UAE

Topics covered in this presentation will include:

  • Cyber Technologies and the Balance of Power
  • Cybersecurity as a National Priority
  • Public-Private Collaboration
  • Emerging Technologies and Cybersecurity
  • The UAE model for secure digital transformation
09.20 - 09.40

►Disruptive Technologies- Transforming Cyber Security Landscape

Ashraf Koheil, Vice President Global Sales, Group-IB 
Igor Stolyarov, Business Development Manager, Group-IB

  • Real-world examples of how these technologies are being leveraged to detect, prevent, and respond to cyber threats more effectively.

  • The risks and challenges these technologies introduce — including how threat actors are also adopting them.

  • Insights into future trends and how organizations can adapt their security frameworks to stay ahead of evolving threats.
09.40 - 10.00

►Cyber Security Horizon scan in the UAE

Hussein Bahgat, Group CISO, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

  • Major Factors contributing to Cyber security Threats in the UAE
  • Cyber Threat landscape multipliers :  Scope , Speed and Scale.
  • Cyber Threat Impact on People , process and technology
  • Scanning the horizon : what can be done ?
  • Case Example : FSIs in UAE and how we created a roadmap for Cyber horizon risk
10.00 - 10.20

►How Delinea assists in reducing Identity related cybercrimes

Omar Samhouri, Senior Sales Engineer, Delinea

  • The landscape of existing PAM solutions

  • Switch from traditional PAM to a modern Identity-centric solution

  • Reducing attack surface across the organization

  • The use of AI in identity security
10.20 - 11.00

►Education Seminar 1

Delegates will be able to choose from a range of topics:

  • Securing data flow for the next wave of the AI era, Kousain Raza, Senior Solutions Engineer, Netskope & Kamlesh Luhana, Senior Solutions Engineer, Netskope
  • The Overlooked Risk: Why DNS is the New Frontline in Cyber Defence, Ahmed Faragallah, Solutions Architect, Infoblox

  • Desert Dexter: The Hidden Cyber Threat in the Middle East, Ilya Leonov, Regional Director MENA, Positive Technologies

  • Re-imagine Data Privacy and Protection in the AI Era, Khaled Saleh, Regional Sales Manager – MEA Region, OpenText
11.00 - 11.30

Networking break
11.30 - 12.00

►Fireside chat: Strengthening Business Resilience Through Proactive Threat Intelligence

Ben Kite, Defence, Security and Cyber Adviser, Kearney
Hani Bani Amer, Head of Information Security, Al Etihad Payments
Khaled Al Teneiji, Cybersecurity Head, ENOC

  • Turning complex data into clear, actionable threat insights to support strategic decisions
  • Using threat intelligence to anticipate and mitigate risks before they disrupt business operations
  • Embedding cyber intelligence into broader operational resilience and risk management ecosystems
  • Enhancing cross-functional collaboration by aligning threat intelligence with enterprise risk priorities
12.00 - 12.20

►Securing Tomorrow: The Critical Path to Cyber Resilience

Dominic Keating, Regional Director, Middle East and Türkiye, Rubrik 
Rob Standing, Regional Vice President, Middle East, Africa and Türkiye, Rubrik

  • In an era where nearly 90% ransomware incidents involve data exfiltration and extortion, nearly two in three companies report their data growth has exceeded their ability to secure it. 

  • Join senior executives from Microsoft and Rubrik as they dissect the complexities of modern cyber threats, including the rise of triple-extortion attacks and evolving regulatory demands.
12.20 - 13.00

►Education Seminar 2

Delegates will be able to choose from a range of topics:

  • Why Data Security Falls Apart Without Document Security: The Risk You Can’t Afford to Ignore, Hammam Abunaser, Sales Director - MEA, FileOrbis
  • The Impact of AI in Identity Security, Theshan Mudaly, Senior Solutions Engineer, BeyondTrust & Saranraj Balaraman, Partner Solutions Engineer, BeyondTrust
  • Is AI Generated Code Secure? Julian Totzek-Hallhuber, Senior Principal Solution Architect, Veracode
  • From Control to Confidence: The New Era of Modern Infrastructure Access, Javeria Malik, Solution Engineer, Sectona & Vishal Thakkar, Director - Customer Success, Sectona
13.00 - 14.00

Lunch & networking break
14.00 - 14.20

►Quantum Computing and the Future of Security: HSBC's Strategy to Combat Emerging Threats 

Philip Intallura, Group Head of Quantum Technologies, HSBC

  • Discover the fundamentals of quantum computing and why HSBC is investing in it for enhanced security and innovation
  • Examine the potential risks quantum computing poses to existing cryptographic systems
  • Explore HSBC's initiatives in cryptographic inventory, Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC), and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) to ensure quantum safety
14.20 - 14.40

►Stop Chasing Data: Control It Where It Lives

Mohamed Djenane, Senior Director Sales Engineering MEA, Seclore

  • In today’s hyper-connected world, security teams are trapped in an endless chase — tracking sensitive data as it moves across networks, clouds, devices, and partners. This siloed approach leaves gaps, slows response, and drives up risk.

  • Discover how data-centric security eliminates the chase, unifies cyber and physical protection, and gives CISOs the control they need in a world beyond silos.

  • Learn how leading organisations are shifting from perimeter defense to persistent data protection — ensuring security travels with the file, wherever it goes, without disrupting business collaboration.
14.40 - 15.00

►Rebooting the CISO Role: Embracing Agility and Resilience

Olivier Bussolini, Group CISO, Mashreq Bank

  • Transitioning from traditional risk management to proactive business enabling
  • Fostering a resilient, security-focused organizational culture
  • Democratising decision-making to empower cross-functional collaboration
  • Optimising security architecture for agility in an AI-driven era
15.00 - 15.40

►Education Seminar 3

Delegates will be able to choose from a range of topics:

  • State of AI: How Evolving Intelligence in Shaping Cybersecurity, Praneeth Vanteru, Technical Consultant, ManageEngine

  • Vulnerability remediation and patching - The real challenge,Ara Antoun, Chief Operations officer, MEInfoSec & Minas Awakian, Managing Director, MEInfoSEC

  • Building the Right Cyber Security Architecture In a distributed World, Sameer Basha, Lead Sales Engineer & Evangelist, Check Point Software Tech ME

  • Pre-emptive Cyber Defence: Finding Adversary Infrastructure Before the Attack, Luke Angus, VP EMEA, Silent Push & Nicholas Roy, Sales Engineer, Silent Push
15.40 - 16.00

Networking break
16.00 - 16.30

►Panel Discussion: Securing Future Architectures

Manit Sahib, Ethical Hacker & Former Head of Penetration Testing & Red Teaming, Bank of England (moderator)
Rajesh Yadla, Head of Information Security, Leading Digital Bank
Bader Zyoud, Head of Information Security Governance and Risk Management, Abu Dhabi Media 
Vijay Antony Velayutham, Principal Information Security Officer, UAE Ministry of Energy & Infrastructure
Zaheer Mubarak Shaikh, CISO, Al Maryah Community Bank

  • How can security teams design resilient architectures to integrate and leverage emerging technologies such as AI, quantum computing, and IoT?
  • What role does AI play in developing proactive rather than reactive security strategies?
  • What are the best practices for integrating AI without disrupting legacy systems and existing workflows?
  • How can organisations implement zero-trust principles and adaptive access controls to secure ever-evolving environments driven by AI and edge computing?
16.30 - 16.50

►Ransomware 3.0: Weaponizing AI for the Next Generation of Ransomware Attacks

Manit Sahib, Ethical Hacker & Former Head of Penetration Testing & Red Teaming, Bank of England

  • LIVE DEMO - Inside the first AI-powered ransomware attack — See how my custom Agentic Ransomware Gang can take down a network in under 8 mins
  • Firsthand insights from real-world red team ops — from legacy tech and broken access controls to the critical lack of real-world security testing
  • Why traditional security fails — compliance checklists and conventional tools don’t stop modern ransomware
  • What CISOs and security leaders must do now — real-world, field-tested steps to prove your controls work before attackers do it for you
16.50 - 17.00

Chair's closing remarks

Education seminars


Vulnerability remediation and patching - The real challenge


Ara Antoun, Chief Operations officer, MEInfoSec 
Minas Awakian, Managing Director, MEInfoSEC

Here are some of the questions our customers had before implementing DarkSight:

Are you having challenges remediating vulnerabilities discovered in your VA reports(Specifically configuration Vulnerabilities)? Does your VA report include a lot of false positives that repetitively appear in every monthly report? Are you truly convinced that your 3rd party application vulnerabilities are detected and remediated in a timely manner?

We believe a healthy vulnerability management system needs the following:

1. A complete and comprehensive VA assessment - partial results have no value

2. A Solution which is flexible enough to accommodate your infrastructure needs

3. An Excellent support contract, to help you in a timely manner.

Join our session and share your thought and challenges with us and we will share with you our best practice.


Securing Data Flow for the Next Wave of the AI Era


Kousain Raza, Senior Solutions Engineer, Netskope 
Kamlesh Luhana, Senior Solutions Engineer, Netskope

Sensitive data movement is often seen as a risk, but restricting it outright can create operational and security challenges. In an era of agentic AI and generative AI, organisations need security frameworks that protect data while ensuring agility.  This session explores how modern security platforms enable secure data flow, adapt to diverse use cases, and prepare for the shift to an AI future.

Attendees will learn:

  • How to enable data flows without introducing escalating security risks

  • How to choose the right secure access method for each use case

  • Why security must be adaptive to risk, user behaviour, and AI-driven interactions


The Overlooked Risk: Why DNS is the New Frontline in Cyber Defence


Ahmed Faragallah, Solutions Architect, Infoblox

"The Overlooked Risk: Why DNS is the New Frontline in Cyber Defence" highlights how the Domain Name System (DNS), the essential service that translates network names into IP addresses, has become a critical target and entry point for modern cyber threats. unprotected DNS can undermine the entire security stack. Implementing robust DNS security, including real-time monitoring and threat intelligence integration, elevates DNS from a basic resolver to an active line of early threat detection and prevention.

Attendees will learn:

  • Understand the anatomy of zero-day DNS threats and how they bypass conventional security layers

  • Discover how to leverage AI-driven analytics to detect malicious domains in real time

  • Learn best practices for implementing proactive domain monitoring and threat intelligence


Why Data Security Falls Apart Without Document Security: The Risk You Can’t Afford to Ignore


Hammam Abunaser, Sales Director - MEA, FileOrbis

In today’s evolving digital landscape, organisations face increasing challenges from insider threats, data breaches, and ever-tightening compliance requirements. While investments in cybersecurity—such as firewalls, endpoint protection, and identity management—continue to grow, one area remains insufficiently addressed: unstructured data.

Critical business information is often stored not in structured databases, but in documents—files that are routinely downloaded, shared, and transferred across various platforms, devices, and cloud environments. These actions frequently occur beyond the visibility and control of traditional security mechanisms.

This speaking sesssion will examine the strategic importance of incorporating document-level security into modern cybersecurity frameworks. It will highlight how organisations are implementing embedded access controls, encryption, and audit trails within files to maintain consistent protection, regardless of where the data resides.

Attendees will learn:

  • Why document security is the missing layer in today’s cybersecurity strategies

  • Why no amount of perimeter or device protection can make up for its absence

  • Exploring how forward-thinking organisations are embedding access controls, encryption, and auditability into the files themselves to ensure data remains protected wherever it goes.


State of AI: How Evolving Intelligence in Shaping Cybersecurity


Praneeth Vanteru, Technical Consultant, ManageEngine

Discusses the evolution AI over the past decade and how the current models are gearing to address latest threats.


The Impact of AI in Identity Security


Theshan Mudaly, Senior Solutions Engineer, BeyondTrust 
Saranraj Balaraman, Partner Solutions Engineer, BeyondTrust

AI is everywhere – transforming the way we work, innovate, and solve problems. While this brings exciting opportunities, it also opens the door to new risks. Cybercriminals are now using AI to make their attacks smarter, faster, and harder to detect. By training AI systems on malware and other malicious tools, they are taking cyberthreats to an entirely new level.

Join Theshan Mudaly, Sr. Solutions Engineer at BeyondTrust, as he explores how AI is impacting Identity Security.

Attendees will learn:

  • Breaking down how digital identities and privileges are now being targeted in new ways 

  • Sharing how BeyondTrust’s Modern PAM, combined with a Least Privilege strategy, can help organisations defend against these evolving AI-driven threats.


Building the Right Cyber Security Architecture In a distributed World


Sameer Basha, Lead Sales Engineer & Evangelist, Check Point Software Tech ME

Sameer will explain the current state of the hyper connected distributed world and why we reached out here. Providing guidance on building the right cyber security architecture using a simple home security analogy.


Pre-emptive Cyber Defence: Finding Adversary Infrastructure Before the Attack


Luke Angus, VP EMEA, Silent Push 
Nicholas Roy, Sales Engineer, Silent Push

In this session, we will demonstrate how pre-emptive threat intelligence enhances detection and response, enabling security teams to act earlier in the threat lifecycle. 

Attendees will learn: 

  • How to move from a reactive stance to a proactive defence posture, gaining strategies to stay ahead of evolving threats.


Is AI Generated Code Secure?


Julian Totzek-Hallhuber, Senior Principal Solution Architect, Veracode

As generative AI becomes a mainstream tool for software development, one question is becoming increasingly urgent: Can we trust AI to write secure code? This session presents key findings from the 2025 GenAI Code Security Report, one of the most comprehensive evaluations to date of code security across over 100 large language models. Covering Java, Python, C#, and JavaScript, our research reveals troubling trends, including high failure rates on critical security tasks and no measurable improvement in security performance over time, even as models grow more powerful.

Attendees will learn:

• How often AI-generated code introduces vulnerabilities and in which languages

• What types of security issues are most common

• Why newer, bigger models aren’t necessarily safer

• The hidden risks facing your software supply chain

• What developers and security teams must do to stay ahead

This session will help you navigate the real-world security implications of GenAI in your development workflow.


Desert Dexter: The Hidden Cyber Threat in the Middle East


Ilya Leonov, Regional Director MENA, Positive Technologies

Attendees will learn:

  • Over 900 individuals and organisations in the Middle East and North Africa were targeted by the “Desert Dexter” cyber campaign.

  • Attackers used fake news groups and Telegram channels to distribute malware disguised as urgent news or updates.

  • The main goal was to steal sensitive data, including login credentials and cryptocurrency wallets.


From Control to Confidence: The New Era of Modern Infrastructure Access


Javeria Malik, Solution Engineer, Sectona 
Vishal Thakkar, Director - Customer Success, Sectona

Today’s enterprises operate across a vast and interconnected landscape - from on-premises infrastructure and cloud platforms and third-party networks. While this diversity offers unmatched flexibility, it also introduces complex privileged access challenges that traditional PAM solutions weren’t built to address.

Join Sectona for an exclusive session where we unveil our Modern Infrastructure Access approach - designed to secure every connection, everywhere, without compromising operational efficiency.

Attendees will learn:

  • Achieving unified visibility and real-time control over privileged sessions.
  • Enforcing least privilege and regulatory compliance seamlessly across diverse infrastructures.
  • Securing access for internal teams, remote employees, and third-party users with minimal disruption.
  • Eliminating blind spots and mitigating risks in hybrid and multi-cloud setups.
  • Explore how Sectona brings diverse user personas together on a single, powerful platform.