ISACA UAE Chapter & Tahawultech, in partnership with the UAE Cybersecurity Council, hosted the second edition of the Infosec and Cybersecurity Congress 2024, at the Habtoor Grand Resort, Autograph Collection, JBR Dubai. The event aimed to discuss, debate and understand the rapidly evolving IT & Security landscape.
Moderated by Anita Joseph, Editor at CPI Media Group, the awards ceremony took off with a brilliant opening keynote from H.E. Dr Mohammed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cybersecurity, United Arab Emirates Government, where he highlighted the need for a collaborative approach to tackle cyber threats.
Dr. Alok Tuteja, CGEIT, CRISC Ex-President, ISACA UAE Chapter then took to the stage to deliver his keynote presentation. This was then followed by separate keynote presentations by Darren Thomson, Vice-President & Chief Technology Officer (Field) at Commvault. and Fabian John D’Mello, Manager Cybersecurity, GBM.
The first panel discussion on Risk Quantification: A new paradigm for CISO’s Approach shortly followed and was moderated by Kapil Matta, Vice-President, ISACA UAE Chapter.
He was joined on the panel by:
- Prabhat Pathak-Director of IT-Cybersecurity & Technology
- Vishal Bhawnani-Head of Cybersecurity, Virgin Mobile UAE
- Hussain Al Khalsan-Chief Information Security Officer, Zand
After this discussion it was time for a Fireside Chat on the Future of Cybersecurity: Trends, Challenges, and Innovations with Ahmad Abdulfattah, Presales Manager, One Identity by Quest. In this conversation, examined identity security as a key element of cybersecurity and how One Identity by Quest is making significant strides in security.
A second panel discussion titled Security Governance: Best Practices for Board-Level Engagement, moderated by Kapil Matta highlighted effective strategies for aligning cybersecurity initiatives with board priorities and decision-making.
The panelists included:
- Olivier Busolini, Executive Vice President, Head of Information Security at Mashreq
- Nisha Rani, Chief Information Security Officer, MMI ELR
- Aus Alzubaidi, Chief Information Security Officer, MBC Group
A third panel brought to light how emerging technologies such as Deepfake & AI impacted the threat-security landscape. The panelists for this included:
- Harsh Daftary, Head of Cloud Security and Compliance, Emirates NBD
- Ali Othman-Cybersecurity Country Head-HBME at HSBC
- Rohit Bajpai-VP, Internal Audit, Gulf Islamic Investments
- Raziel Humberto Pena Hinojosa-Head of IT operations, Mediclinic Middle East
The highlight of the event was the CISO Infosec & Cyber Risk Leadership Awards 2024 which honoured cybersecurity decision makers and innovators forging an indelible mark on the security landscape with their vision and know-how.
The award winners were:
- Ali Othman- HSBC Bank Middle East Limited
- Aus Alzubaidi- MBC Group
- Hussain Al Khalsan- Zand
- Harsh Daftary- Emirates NBD
- Prabhat Pathak
- Nisha Rani- MMI ELR
- Jayesh Nandanan- Mediclinic Middle East
- Alok Tuteja- Agthia Group PJSC
- Ramadan Mohamad Ali- Transport Authority, Government of Ajman
- Mohannad Hennawi- NAFFCO
- Olivier Busolini- Mashreq
- Arun Menon- Airtel Africa
