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Autonomous AI is shifting security from protecting systems and people to governing machine-speed decisions and actions, demanding a fundamental rethink of leadership, accountability, and risk. Drawing on IDC research, this keynote shows how CISOs and security leaders can set the strategy, operating models, and trust frameworks needed to stay ahead of emerging threats while enabling responsible AI-driven innovation.

Exploring how security leaders are evolving from operational guardians to strategic partners responsible for resilience, trust, and enterprise growth. Saudi CISOs are the architects of the kingdom’s secure digital future and yet balancing security with business priorities continues to be a challenge. 

How leading organisations are translating cyber risk into business impact, financial exposure, and investment decisions that resonatewith executive stakeholders. In Saudi Arabia, security investment is a sovereign priority. The ability to articulate it in business termsdetermines whether it is protected or cut.​

How governments and enterprises are responding to growing demands for data sovereignty, supply chain integrity, and trusted digitalecosystems across borders. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign cloud push is redefining how CISOs design infrastructure for the kingdom’s mostsensitive workloads.​

Security leaders examine how extended digital ecosystems are reshaping third-party risk management, vendor assurance, and supplychain resilience frameworks. With 43% of Saudi CISOs citing supply chain attacks as a top-three threat, and the kingdom’s supplybase expanding through giga-project procurement, third-party risk has become a live operational challenge.​

Saudi Arabia’s IDC research shows identity and access management as the second-highest technology investment priority, yet meeting compliance and regulatory standards remains the top identity challenge for organisations. As AI agents, machine identities, and autonomous systems proliferate, organisations need a new approach to identity, access, and trust.

How AI-powered detection, automation, and response capabilities are reshaping security operations and enabling more resiliententerprises. With NCA’s MSOC licensing framework setting new standards for SOC operations in Saudi Arabia, the pressure toautomate, localise, and scale is acute.​

Strategies for maintaining visibility, protection, and recovery across increasingly distributed hybrid environments. As Saudi Arabia’sgiga-projects connect IT and OT at unprecedented scale, cyber resilience is not a security metric, it is a national infrastructurerequirement.​

Connect with like-minded peers and industry partners in dynamic roundtable discussions, where meaningful conversations come together to surface actionable insights, challenge conventional thinking, and foster candid dialogue.

Connect with like-minded peers and industry partners in dynamic roundtable discussions, where meaningful conversations come together to surface actionable insights, challenge conventional thinking, and foster candid dialogue.

Regulatory compliance is the top operational priority for 65% of Saudi CISOs.But compliance tells you where you were, not where the threat is going. This workshop explores how leading security teamsare using IDC’s forward-looking intelligence — alongside NCA frameworks and sector-specific guidance — to build securitystrategies that anticipate, not just react.​