Riyadh:  The Middle East and North Africa Information Security Conference #MENAISC2022 by VirtuPort, themed “Cyber Fusion - Converging Cyber Intel: Critical Network Infrastructure IT, OT, and IoT,” will be convened in-person this year – after being successfully held virtually for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Samir Omar, CEO of VirtuPort in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and USA said the 10th edition of the MENAISC2022 addresses important topics aligned with Vision 2030 including enabling secure digital transformation and a focus on the human capital development of nationals as well as the women empowerment in Cybersecurity.  It will focus on supporting companies and government agencies tasked with the protection of critical network infrastructure to reduce the risks of cyberattacks. 

Samir Omar is a veteran in the cybersecurity industry who has expansive experience spanning 25 years. Through his global experience, he worked with government agencies, financial institutions, and telecommunications companies providing security and risk management solutions and expertise.  
Omar highlighted the importance of the timing of the conference, which will be held in Riyadh on Sept. 6-7, 2022, as it coincides with an unprecedented surge in cyberattacks targeting the infrastructure of many countries posing a threat to 12 vital infrastructure sectors. Any potential damage to these sectors will have devastating effects on the economy, health, safety, and security of countries.

The conference will tackle a wide range of topics under the main theme, including Artificial intelligence for a flexible and efficient energy industry, digital transformation, smart cities, threats and risks facing the supply chain and how to confront them, cyber resilience, business continuity, disaster recovery, and safe artificial intelligence in public safety, healthcare, cloud security, and third-party risk analysis in addition to, cyber security integration of critical IT infrastructure, Operational Technologies (OT), and the Internet of Things (IoT). 

Omar expressed his expectation that the conference would support the protection of critical infrastructure, as well as enhance cooperation between stakeholders.  He said this year’s MENAISC2022 will spotlight ways of achieving and increasing the resilience of infrastructure and its ability to adapt to changing conditions so that they are able to withstand and recover in the event of a cyberattack. 

“The resilience and security of critical infrastructure depends on cooperation between stakeholders.  The conference will encourage the facilitation of this cooperation between stakeholders, allowing free communication between them and the sharing of reliable information.   Enhancing the security and resilience of critical infrastructure requires equitable representation and participation of relevant stakeholders from all sectors,” the CEO added.
Omar add that Saudi Arabia National Cybersecurity Authority has already played an important role of protecting the infrastructure from cyberattacks and has been the catalyst for improved security awareness and investments in the cybersecurity. According to a 2020 report by the US Saudi Business Council, the Saudi cybersecurity market size is expected to be valued at $5.6 Billion by 2023. 

He added that this 10th edition also celebrates a history of being one of the regions most trusted cybersecurity thought leadership platforms which continues to focus on delivering world class speakers and content directed to the key decision makers, influencers and operators who are tasked with securing their businesses and entities. 

The 10th MENAISC’s continues to attract global leading firms from around the world including CyberKnight as its diamond sponsors while the platinum sponsors are Arcon, Crowdstrike and IT Security Training & Solutions – I(TS)2 in addition to  gold sponsorships by ankura, kaspersky, proofpoint and tenable, and silver sponsorships by ANOMALI, BeyondTrust, Bitdefender, Forcepoint, MANDIANT, ClearSkies ODYSSEY, Security Scorecard, SentinelOne, THREATQUOTIENT, and ZEROFOX with many more expected to participate and be announced soon.

Organizing Partner and Media Sponsors are Marcom Arabia and W7Worldwide respectively with CyberKnight; a leading Value Added Distributor (VAD) also having participation from the following companies: appgate, BLUECAT, GROUP-IB, Helpsystems, Netwrix, PhishRod and seceon.