IT Security Summit
Agenda
IT Security Summit
One Day Event
Registration & Networking
First 100 delegates walk away with the Saudi National Team jersey, your badge of pride for FIFA World Cup 2026
IDC Welcome Address
Shilpi Handa
Associate Research Director (META), IDC
IDC Keynote: Orchestrating Resilience Amid Transformation, Regulation, and Emerging Threats
META’s cybersecurity agenda is shaped by unprecedented digital acceleration, regulatory dynamism, and the proliferation of advanced threats across IT, OT, and cloud. As organizations embrace AI, platform-centric architectures, and hybrid environments, the attack surface expands and adversaries become more sophisticated—leveraging GenAI, identity compromise, and cyber-physical exploits. At the same time, regulatory mandates around data sovereignty and trust are intensifying. CISOs are challenged to orchestrate holistic defense strategies that unify technology, process, and people: integrating real-time detection, adaptive controls, and continuous compliance, while investing in workforce upskilling and AI augmentation. Achieving resilience in this environment demands a proactive, inclusive approach—balancing innovation, operational continuity, and regulatory alignment across the region’s diverse digital landscape.
Shilpi Handa
Associate Research Director (META), IDC
Sovereign Security: Localizing Talent, Data, and Infrastructure
Middle East organizations are embedding digital sovereignty into their transformation strategies by localizing talent, infrastructure, and AI systems. Sovereign security platforms ensure sensitive data is stored and governed within national borders, reducing exposure to foreign jurisdiction and geopolitical risks. This approach is central to national security, public sector modernization, and technological independence.
AI-Powered Threat Detection and Response
Security service providers in the Middle East are integrating large language models and behavioral analytics to deliver real-time, AI-powered threat detection and response. These systems accelerate threat hunting, automate incident classification, and enable proactive defense against advanced cyber threats, transforming SOC operations and improving regulatory compliance.
Ayman Alissa
Vice President, Cybersecurity Solutions, SBM
Zero Trust Security Models for Government and BFSI
Zero trust security is gaining traction in government and BFSI sectors, driven by regulatory mandates and the need for robust data protection. Middle East governments are updating privacy laws and deploying zero trust frameworks to ensure continuous verification, minimize attack surfaces, and comply with evolving regulations.
Cloud Security: Compliance, Visibility, and Resilience
Cloud security strategies in the region focus on regulatory compliance, data sovereignty, and operational resilience. Organizations are prioritizing local cloud regions, hybrid architectures, and sovereign controls to meet data residency requirements, reduce latency, and ensure visibility across distributed environments.
Operationalizing Cybersecurity Through Outcome-Based Delivery, Quantified Risk, and Resilience-First Prioritization
Cybersecurity leaders are increasingly challenged to demonstrate how security investment translates into measurable business outcomes. This session explores how organizations can operationalize cybersecurity through outcome-based delivery, quantified cyber risk, and resilience-first prioritization. Moving beyond fragmented tools and isolated initiatives, the discussion will focus on building security models aligned with operational continuity, faster recovery, and measurable risk reduction. Attendees will gain practical perspectives on prioritizing investments based on business impact and strengthening resilience through repeatable, outcome-driven cyber operations.
Notis Iliopoulos
EVP of MRC, Obrela
Unlocking Your Unfair Advantage Against AI Adversaries
Attackers use AI to strike in minutes. To adapt, we must shift our perspective from manual reaction to automated mobilization. This session demonstrates how to utilize a ‘virtual crew’ of AI agents to ingest intelligence, build attack playbooks, simulate threats to find gaps, and mobilize fixes.
Tarek Kuzbari
Vice President EMEA, Picus Security
Building Resilient, Intelligent Networks for the AI Era
AI workloads, autonomous agents, and machine-driven traffic are pushing enterprise networks beyond their breaking point. This session explores why legacy architectures are failing under distributed inference and intelligent adversaries, then shares five immutable principles for the next-generation network.
Saddam Alsad
Senior Sales Manager, Saudi Arabia, Cloudflare
Tea/ Coffee & Networking Break
AI Resilience in the New Threat Landscape: Prompt Attacks and Business Risk
As organizations rapidly adopt Large Language Models (LLMs) and generative AI technologies, a new cybersecurity threat is emerging through prompt-based attacks and AI manipulation techniques. These threats can compromise AI behavior, expose sensitive information, disrupt business operations, and erode organizational trust. This session explores the evolving risks associated with prompt injection attacks, jailbreak techniques, and malicious AI interactions, while highlighting their impact on enterprise security and business continuity. The discussion will focus on how organizations can strengthen AI resilience through proactive detection, secure AI design, governance, and risk management strategies.
Attendees will gain practical insights into building resilient AI systems that can withstand emerging threats while enabling innovation, operational stability, and trusted adoption of generative AI technologies.
Bushra Alhetelah
Detection and Intelligence Fusion Specialist, Cyberani
AI-Driven Threats: The Rise of Automated Attacks
How adversaries worldwide are using GenAI toscale and accelerate attacks, and how organizations are countering with AI-driven detection, response,and governance strategies
AI-Driven Security Automation and Orchestration
MDR platforms are enabling rapid, automated incident response, reducing manual intervention and improving operational efficiency. AI-driven orchestration integrates threat intelligence, behavioral analytics, and playbook automation for scalable security operations.
Platinum Tracks (Parallel Sessions)
11:55 AM Start of Session Raffle
Attend the Track, Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to win Raffle prizes.
Platinum Track A
12:00 pm – 12:15 pm
Data Privacy and Protection: Navigating New Regulations
Sultan Alanazi
Country Regional Director, Exabeam
12:15 pm – 12:30 pm
Managed Detection and Response (MDR): The Digital Control Plane
12:30 pm – 12:45 pm
AI-Driven Security Automation and Orchestration
Platinum Track B
12:00 pm – 12:15 pm
Cybersecurity Talent Development and Certification
12:15 pm – 12:30 pm
Supply Chain Security: Mitigating Third-Party Risks
12:30 pm – 12:45 pm
Incident Response and Digital Forensics
Gold Tracks (Parallel Sessions)
Attend the Track, Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to win Raffle prizes.
Gold Track A
12:45 pm – 1:00 pm
Banking Sector Resilience: API Security and Open Banking
1:00 pm – 1:15 pm
GenAI Risks and Opportunities in Cybersecurity
1:15 pm – 1:30 pm
Reimagining Mobile App Security in the AI Age
Pushkar Singh
Country Head, MEA, Protectt.AI
1:30 pm – 2:00 pm
End User Panel Discussion: Secure AI in Action: Lessons from CISOs
Shilpi Handa
Associate Research Director (META), IDC
Thamer Alrowidhan
Chief Information Security Officer, Confidential
Eng. Khalid Alfaheid
Chief Information Security Officer, Confidential
Asma Alyemni
Chief Information Security Officer, Technical and Vocational Training Corporation
Dr. Saleh Alharbi
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Shaqra University
Gold Track B
12:45 pm – 1:00 pm
The Identity Attack Frontier
Charbel Chekie
Technical Sales Engineer, Delinea
1:00 pm – 1:15 pm
What All Saudi Compliance Frameworks Agree On
Georgy Ovanesyan
CEO, Axidian
1:15 pm – 1:30 pm
Cybersecurity Talent Development and Certification
1:30 pm – 2:00 pm
End User Panel Discussion: Identity Security: The New Battleground
Shahin Hashim
Associate Research Director (META), IDC