Speakers
Shilpi Handa
Event Sessions
One Day Event 9:05 am
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.
One Day Event 9:00 am
IDC Welcome Address
Shahin Hashim
Uzair Mujtaba
Tarek Kuzbari
Tarek Kuzbari is a seasoned leader with 20+ years of experience in the Technology Media and Telecommunications (TMT) sector, specializing in international market expansion, revenue growth, and P&L management. He has held senior roles at HUMAN, Cybereason, Bitdefender, Group-IB, SABA Software, and Kaspersky, managing $58m ARR across regions including MEA, APAC, and Eastern Europe. Tarek, an acknowledged industry influencer, has been listed among the top “30 under 30” by Gulf businesses and ACN’s “Top 25 Most Powerful Executives in the Middle East”. He also earned a spot in Network Middle East’s “Top Executives in the Security Industry in the Middle East”. He holds an MBA from London Business School and actively supports NGOs like Agastya International Foundation and the Grow Movement.
Event Sessions
One Day Event 10:35 am
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.
Notis Iliopoulos
Notis Iliopoulos is EVP for MRC, bringing over 25 years of global experience in the cybersecurity domain in critical positions. Notis has held demanding positions in large corporates under risk management across SE Europe and the Middle East driving businesses to successful development. He was involved in the Initial establishment & operation of six business units, providing information security consulting services, and two corporate information security departments. His research interests include Information & Cyber Resilience and Risk Assessment Methods and Techniques, focusing lately on the Convergence of Digital & Physical Security and a holistic approach to Security Risk Management. He holds an MSc in Information Security (Royal Holloway, University of London), MSc in Business Innovation Management (AIT) and BSc in Computer Science (Royal Holloway, University of London). He is also certified by CISA, CISM & ISO 27001 Lead Auditor.
Event Sessions
One Day Event 10:25 am
DFIR in the Age of AI Acceleration
Discuss the evolution of how attackers always adapt to security controls and how AI is now accelerating these attacks. AI doesn’t introduce “new” attacks but lowers the entry barrier for attacks by making it faster, realistic, and variable. Whereas, defenders can also use AI to accelerate parts of investigation, but this shift changes how DFIR operates, requiring more context driven analysis rather than relying purely on patterns.