CM-Alliance & ExtraHop event in Dubai gets top UAE CISOs together

15 senior InfoSec leaders from the UAE get together to discuss cybersecurity best practices and how to achieve Full Visibility. The topic for the discussion was - "Complete Visibility: A CISO's Dream or Reality?"

Cyber Management Alliance, the frontrunner in global cybersecurity consultancy and training, recently organised one of its highly-acclaimed Spotlight Dinner Events in Dubai for ExtraHop. ExtraHop, the US-based cybersecurity leader, provides AI-based network intelligence in a bid to thwart advanced threats to cloud, hybrid and distributed environments. 

The Spotlight Dinner Event brought together 15 top InfoSec leaders from Dubai and the UAE to discuss trending cybersecurity subjects including the rise in popularity of ChatGPT and Full Visibility for CISOs. The event was hosted at the prestigious Fairmont Dubai on 15th March, 2023. The primary topic of discussion was “Complete Visibility: A CISO’s Dream or Reality”.  

Amongst the highlights of the event was the keynote address by Mahmoud Yassin, CISO of United Arab Bank who shared his insightful experience on how he implemented Full Visibility within the organisation. The premise of his presentation was every CISO’s and SOC manager’s goal - complete visibility which can enable early sighting of suspicious activity and thereby disrupt malicious activity sooner than is otherwise possible.  

CM-Alliance’s Spotlight Dinner Events are well-known in the industry for being completely spontaneous and unscripted, leading to some very exciting discussions and enriching participation from all the attendees. This event was no different. It saw vibrant participation from the cybersecurity leaders who shared their rich insights into best practices as well as challenges from their own rich experience. 

Here's what some of the participating cybersecurity leaders had to say about the event: 

Hussein Bahgat, Group Chief Information Security and Privacy Officer, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank:  "I keep coming back because the discussions are always very focussed. The questions are highly interesting and provoctive." 

Sabir Shaik, Head of Systems Development & Information Security Unit at Department of Finance, Dubai Government: "They have provided a demonstration of a very good solution about NDR (Network, Detection and Response). It is the first time I'm hearing about this solution in the market."  

Tushar Vartak, Director, IT Risk, Fraud Prevention & Detection at RAKBANK: "The duration is not very long. There wasn't a lot of marketing and there was a lot of technical talk that I really love about this. And all my CISO colleagues were here and it was really a great discussion."  

Amongst the chief challenges mentioned by the participating CISOs was - complicated network and system infrastructures, hybrid infrastructures that keep getting more complex as they expand, and ever-changing and dynamic connectivities that span multiple geographical and regulatory boundaries. ExtraHop, the sponsor of the event, readily addressed several questions about how their AI-enabled solution enables businesses to achieve visibility despite these challenges.

The goal of the knowledge-sharing session was to better understand the best ways to achieve visibility and reduce the time to respond to cyber incidents. How to demonstrate a tangible ROI was also amongst the key topics that the cybersecurity leaders deliberated over. 

Another factor that makes a huge difference to the outcome of the discussions in the Spotlight Event is that it is led by a practising CISO, Amar Singh, the CEO of Cyber Management Alliance, Course Creator and UK Government-Certified Trainer in Cyber Incident Response.

This also means that these events lead to the exact results that vendors seek - meaningful insights into the customers' actual requirements and needs. Further, as Amar facilitates the discussions with vendor objectives in view, the discussions fruitfully highlight the strengths of the products/services and how they can truly resolve customer challenges in the real world.    

After concluding a very successful event in Dubai, Amar said, “Our network of CISOs drove deeply insightful discussions around the subject and ExtraHop’s offering. The ExtraHop Subject Matter Expert was equally experienced and highly-skilled. Most importantly, he diligently responded to each and every query with his expertise. He shed light on how the ExtraHop product could actually solve many of the challenges to complete visibility that were being shared by the attending CISOs.” 

The ExtraHop SME said, “What stood out to me was the network of CISOs that CM-Alliance gathered at the event. They carried with them the experience and knowledge to ask pertinent questions and make the discussion so much more valuable for us as vendors as well as for the other participants. It led to some fascinating insights and discussions.” 

Cyber Management Alliance’s Spotlight Events are a part of its highly-successful Vendor Business Growth offering. The Spotlight Events offer vendors a chance to exclusively sponsor a discussion over Dinner & Drinks at a prominent venue with 15-20 key decision-makers from their target markets. 

Completely unscripted unlike many other cybersecurity events, it provides an innovative platform for delivering informative content, networking and showcasing the vendor’s unique offering to an engaged audience. The events are driven by discussion and collaboration. CM-Alliance’s ability to engage with leading decision-makers in the cybersecurity industry means these events get together an enviable list of attendees from the InfoSec space.