Cyber Management Alliance just concluded one of its most vibrant and successful events yet – the bi-annual Wisdom of Crowds in Dubai, held this year on October 3, 2019.
Organised at the most exclusive venue in Dubai at the Gold/27th floor of the exquisite Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, the event brought together the highest number of Cyber & Data Security experts seen so far at any WoC gathering in Dubai. It was a full house, bustling with participants from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and RAK government entities attending alongside delegates from critical sectors including infrastructure, banking and finance, education, retail, healthcare, IT, insurance, automotive and others.
With the key objective of inviting the brightest minds in the realm of data privacy and cybersecurity to collaborate, create and distribute knowledge, the very pertinent theme for the Wisdom of Crowds Dubai event was “Cyber Resilience: The CXO Handbook to a Modern, Resilient business”.
Wisdom of Crowds is an exciting, innovative and extremely relevant concept created by the cyber security professionals at Cyber Management Alliance, headed by Amar Singh. Our exclusive series of events offers cybersecurity professionals the unique opportunity to come together with like-minded colleagues and combine synergies on subjects of common concern such as cyber security, data privacy, regulatory compliance and other security-related issues. The events are based on the principle that the ‘wisdom of many surpasses the knowledge of a single or few’; and our recently-concluded event in Dubai was a manifestation of that very belief.
“The very concept of the Wisdom of Crowds is that the Wisdom of Crowds far exceeds the experience of one or a few.”- Amar Singh, Cyber Management Alliance.
Led by globally-renowned cybersecurity thought leader, Amar Singh, the attendees geared up for a day of exciting and interactive knowledge-sharing with a keen focus on navigating the complex challenges that the cybersecurity landscape throws at modern businesses. Warming up with a round of brainstorming in the spirit of WoC, all participants put their minds together to create actionable collateral and guidance for C-level cyber executives in the Middle East.
Manas Sarkar, Deputy GM, TATA Communications took to the dais next. He shed light on how cyber security challenges can be successfully combatted with advanced SOC services. The crux of his address was how organisations could make their security infrastructure much more efficient and the impact of automation on threat life cycle management & security outcomes.
After a panel discussion with a quirky twist and a scrumptious, lavish lunch that was naturally expected at one of the most luxurious hotels in the world, it was time for an in-depth demo of SOAR – Security Orchestration Automation & Response tools. SOAR 101, conducted by Haider Pasha - Regional CSO, Demisto - illustrated how these tools can streamline actions across security products, structure processes through task-based workflows and plug gaps in the incident response lifecycle.
This deeply insightful presentation was followed by the highly acclaimed, signature WoC interactive session where delegates took up their assigned tasks and presented the same in groups at the end of the session. An intense 45 minutes of fun came next as attendees spoke about the subjects they are most passionate about, enabling their peers to get a better understanding of these topics and widening their respective orbits of knowledge.
The sponsors at this pulsating Wisdom of Crowds event were Demisto – A Palo Alto Networks Company and Tata Communications. This was a fantastic opportunity for them to establish their thought leadership at the event while simultaneously giving their portfolio of services the right exposure to the most targeted audience possible.
If you’re still wondering what makes a Wisdom of Crowds event so spectacular and relevant for any person or organisation interested in cybersecurity and data privacy, read these comments by the participants in our October edition of the extremely successful Dubai event:
"Wisdom of Crowds is very unique in the way they approach interaction. Generally, when you visit most of the other events, it’s more a sort of one way traffic, you don't really get to interact as much, not even with your peers who might be sitting next to you. Wisdom of Crowds has changed all that and pioneered it frankly… it's the first time I got to know not just the person sitting next to me or on my table, but essentially all of the attendees that have come. Having that level of networking and knowledge to know you can reach out to them all once the event is done is a fruitful use of my time." - Haider Pasha, Senior Director, Chief Security Officer, Palo Alto Networks.
“In respect to today’s event, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the sessions. I think this was a great opportunity to network with like-minded people. There were a lot of perspectives, information, keen knowledge-sharing which has been tossed around this morning, which I think was fantastic. Such a session is always useful to try and work with people who are in the same space, which is a fantastic opportunity.” -Pradeep Venkatasubramaniam, Head of IT, Omnito Inc.
“There is more teamwork, more collaboration and we got a chance to understand and learn from other people’s experience and listen to their ideas, brainstorm; so I found that to be very helpful. I would strongly recommend participation in this event in the future for other CISOs.”– Jacob Mathew, Head of IT, Abu Dhabi Government.