IDC’s IT Security Roadshow returns to ME

With security incidents and targeted attacks continuing to impact the Middle East’s financial, government and energy sectors, International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts that spending on security solutions in the region will reach an estimated $1.07 billion in 2017. Strategies for combating such attacks will sit at the heart of the agenda as IDC kicks off the latest instalment of its annual Middle East IT Security Roadshow next week.

Kuwait City will set the ball rolling on 3 April, with around 100 security professionals set to gather at the Radisson Blu hotel to tackle the latest developments shaping IT security investment across the region. The roadshow will then move on to Manama (5 April), Doha (27 April), Jeddah (1 May), Riyadh (3 May), Abu Dhabi (11 May), Muscat (15 May) and Amman (17 May).

Complementing the IT Security Roadshow series this year will be a special CISO Roundtable to be hosted on 20 April at Dubai’s Viceroy Palm Jumeirah. Attracting 25-30 of the region’s most senior C-level security executives, the event will provide a perfect platform for high-level networking and knowledge transfer around the IT security industry’s most pressing concerns.

“With Middle East organisations increasingly realising that innovation holds the key to success in the face of aggressive competition, there has been a considerable increase in focus on enabling digital transformation,” said Megha Kumar, IDC MEA’s Research Director for Software. “But if this quest is to bear fruit, the implementation of best-practice security measures is an absolute must. Indeed, today’s increasingly complex threat landscape is piling yet more pressure on organisations to re-evaluate their security strategies, develop dynamic policies, and create new synergies capable of enabling a secure, resilient, and compliant ecosystem.”

“The region’s IT decision makers rank cybersecurity solutions as the most critical technology for enabling the digital transformation of their organisations,” continued Kumar. “And as the digital economy becomes a reality, security strategies will need to encompass internal systems as well the systems used by end users and suppliers. As such, IT decision makers must look to build proactive security mitigation plans, while supporting the business’s overall digital transformation agenda, and this will be a key focus of IDC’s IT Security Roadshow 2017, as well as the accompanying CISO Roundtable event in Dubai.”

To this end, the IT Security Roadshow’s agenda will provide in-depth advice on a diverse range of security-related topics, including:

• Aligning Security with Business Objectives
• Closing the Security Expertise Gap
• Making Sense of Cybersecurity Regulations
• Enabling Security in the Internet of Things
• Implementing Critical Infrastructure Protection

Respected IDC thought leaders will be joined by industry experts from a host of pioneering vendors, while IT security leaders from influential end-user organidations such as Vodafone, ictQatar, National Commercial Bank, Arcapita Group and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Justice will also be on hand to share their own valuable insights and experiences.

IDC’s Platinum Partners for these events include Palo Alto Networks, Oracle and LogRhythm, while the vendor community will also be represented by the likes of Forcepoint, Fortinet, Qualys, Infoblox, Bitdefender, Phishme, QualityNet, Checkmarx, Tripwire, Ebttikar, Innovative Solutions, Check Point and Kingston. The Bahrain and Riyadh editions will be hosted in association with ISACA Bahrain and ISACA Riyadh, respectively.

For more information about IDC’s IT Security Roadshow 2017 and the accompanying CISO Roundtable, please contact Ronita Bhattacharjee, IDC MEA’s Associate Vice President for Conferences on +971 4 391 2747 or at [email protected].