Speakers

Ali Beshara, Head of Information Security and Risk Management, The Benefit Company

Mr. Ali is an Information technology professional with more than 20 years of experience. Ali holds various certifications in the cybersecurity field including: CISA, CISM, CRISC and ISO 27001. He holds an M.Sc. in Public Administration from Aix-Marseille University – France – and Bachelor of Computing from The University of Greenwich, and an associate diploma... in Business Information Systems from The University of Bahrain. more

Jerome Walter, CISO, Digital Venture, Standard Chartered Bank

With more than 18 years of experience, Jerome is a forward looking and innovative security executive focused on leveraging best practices in IT and development to solve today’s security and resilience challenges. Jerome recently joined Standard Chartered as the CISO for a Digital Venture. Prior to that, Jerome spent over two years accompanying the largest organisation’s... cloud-native transformation as Pivotal’s Field CISO and VMware’s Security Modernisation lead. Jerome also led security initiatives at Prudential Asia and Natixis in the Asia-Pacific region. He also held various positions as developer and systems engineer. Jerome holds a Master of Science in IT Engineering from EFREI, France, and an MBA in Finance from HKUST Business School. more

Graham Cluley, Security Analyst, grahamcluley.com

Graham Cluley is an award-winning independent security blogger,  researcher, podcaster, and public speaker.  He has been a well-known  figure in the computer security industry since the early 1990s when he  worked as a programmer, writing the first ever version of Dr Solomon's  Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Since then he has been... employed in senior roles by companies such as Sophos and McAfee. Graham Cluley was inducted into the InfoSecurity Europe Hall of Fame in 2011, and his claim to fame is that he is the originator of the saying that “the cloud is just someone else’s computer” (but he hasn't  managed to make any money out of it) Graham can be heard each week on the award-winning "Smashing Security" podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley. more

Ashish Khanna, Information Security Officer, Dubai Health Authority

Ashish Khanna holds a Master’s in strategic leadership from University of Gloucestershire, UK. He is currently working as a specialist and advisor to the CISO of a prominent Dubai Government entity. Ashish’s research interests are in the Technology and AI aspects of cybersecurity – particularly in finding ways of ‘monetizing unforeseen risk’ as well as 'Data... Science for Cybersecurity’. He is currently managing multi-disciplinary cross-functional teams, towards achieving key strategic objectives. Ashish has previously headed the cyber security consulting vertical for an organization in India. He has worked extensively across the public and private sector for organizations such as Infosys, Credit-Suisse group AG, HCL, Deutsche-Bank and more. He has been a prominent speaker on diverse cybersecurity topics, presented at a range of conference and contributed widely in organizational and national level strategic programs. more

Steven Brown, Director, Cybersecurity, Mastercard

Steve is Mastercard’s lead for Cyber Security. He is responsible for the implementation and integration of Mastercard's Cyber Security Framework including data breach detection and cyber risk assessment technologies and capabilities across all related stakeholders including issuers, acquirers, merchants and Governments. Steve also works to build and maintain strategic... relationships with both internal, external, private and public sector parties, working with Global teams to understand the needs of customers and technology required to deliver applicable solutions. Prior to joining Mastercard, Steve was an Officer of the UK’s National Crime Agency for 17 years where, as Head of Cyber Threat Intelligence, he led the UK’s strategic response to Cyber Crime with overall responsibility for the collection, management, analysis and assessment of intelligence on the Cyber Crime threat to UK. Steve ensured a proactive response to prevent and mitigate harm to UK individuals and business through assessed threat and risk management, working across Government and Industry to determine and detail the National and International response to Cyber Crime. Steve also served as the UK’s Cyber Attaché to the USA during 2016-2019, embedded with the FBI Cyber Division at National Cyber & Forensics Training Alliance (NCFTA). Steve was responsible for diplomatic and political relationships and negotiations relating to the investigation of cyber criminality affecting the UK and USA. more

Jeevan Badigari, Director of Information Security and Governance, DAMAC Properties

Jeevan is currently working as Director of Information Security and Governance at DAMAC Properties Dubai. Having over 16 years of experience in Information Security, Governance, Project Management, Risk Management, and Technology Management combined. Jeevan brings the expertise of delivering global security and compliance standards such as ISO27001 and PCI-DSS and... NESA standards to organizations. Jeevan holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix, USA with a concentration in Technology Management and has number of International Certifications including CISSP from ISC2 in good standing. more

Ahmed Nabil, Regional Information Security and Risk Manager, Standard Chartered Bank

Ahmed Nabil has more than 20 years of experience in the field of Information Technology/Systems, Infrastructure, Project Management, Information Security, Application development/Automation, IT management, standard/regulations and holds several professional IT certifications from Microsoft, CISCO, ISACA, ISC2, PMI, CWNP, PECB and EC- Council. Ahmed is an industry... expert in Information Security and Digital Transformation, public speaker at several international conferences (Microsoft Ignite the Tour, ITCamp Cluj, CISO Africa Summit, Egypt CSCAMP, Cyber in Africa, SAYA, SharePoint Saturdays, CloudWeekend, Credence, eCrime and Cyber Security…..etc.) and author of several international published articles and a recent book on M365 Security technologies co-authored with other fellow MVPs.

Ahmed Nabil has a BS in Electrical and Control Engineering, MSc in Business Information Technology and Master of Business Administration (MBA). Ahmed is currently the Regional Information Security and Risk Manager in a leading International financial institution managing all MENAP region, prior to this Ahmed was the Global Security Architect Manager at one of the top Oil and Gas companies in the world as well as the CISO and CIO for top Engineering company in Egypt and Middle East.

Ahmed was awarded the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award in Enterprise security/Cloud and Data Center Management for 9 years in row from 2013 to 2021 for his exceptional knowledge sharing and community leadership in Egypt and Middle East Region. Recently in July 2020 Ahmed was awarded the Microsoft Regional Director (RD) award as well.

Ahmed recently received the MESA CISO 100 Award from the MESA conference held in Dubai for the top CISO executives in the Middle East, CISO 50 Award, EGYPT CISO of the Year Award 2018 and was finalist in EC-COUNCIL CISO awards 2018 (Atlanta, US). Ahmed was recently selected as a member of the EC-Council CCISO advisory board due to his Industry standing and deep experience. more

Muhammad Rizwan Khan, General Manager, Al Dhahery Exchange

Khan was recognized for his dedication to the anti-financial crime field. His journey toward becoming a professional in the field of anti-financial crime compliance began with a simple but thoughtful idea more than few years ago How could he help prevent people’s lives from being impacted by bad actors. Khan achieved maximum compliance certification from ACAMS... including CTMA, CKYCA, CGSS, CAMS, CAMSFCI along with he is also associated with University of Oxford (“SAID Business School”) DIPOL (Diploma in Organizational Leadership) these credentials make him unique in stream of valuable professionals. Khan’s desire to help others while sharing knowledge on how to implement best practices to detect and prevent all financial crimes—and turn small opportunities for learning into big chances for growth—culminated in his current position as General Manager AL DHAHERY Money Exchange, United Arab Emirates. The native of Lahore, Pakistan truly believes that in order to be a professional who makes a difference in the lives of strangers, in the job and the field, anti-money laundering (AML) officers must work in true partnership with the business lines—not at odds with them. This must occur in a system where profits do not overshadow proper controls and where generators of a firm’s revenue value compliance input and insight. Khan has vast experience in AML and counter-terrorist financing; he is a compliance professional with a focus on financial crime and independent money laundering reviews for the money services business industry and banks. His expertise also includes independent reviews and investigations, threat/risk assessments, domestic and international training, mentorship, expert testimony and AML program development.  Khan articles have published in numerous academic international compliance forums and he is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on the subject. more

Jeremy King, VP, Regional Head for Europe, PCI Security Standards Council

Mr. King leads the Council’s efforts in increasing adoption and awareness of the PCI Security Standards internationally. In this role, Mr. King works closely with the Council and representatives of its policy-setting executive committee from American Express, Discover, JCB International, Mastercard and Visa, Inc. His chief responsibilities include gathering feedback... from the merchant and vendor community, coordinating research and analysis of PCI SSC-managed standards through all international markets, and driving education efforts and Council membership recruitment through active involvement in local and regional events, industry conferences and meetings with key stakeholders. He also serves as a resource for Approved Scanning Vendors (ASVs), Qualified Security Assessors (QSAs), Internal Security Assessors (ISAs), PCI Forensic Investigators (PFIs), and related staff in supporting regional training, certification and testing programs. more

Maurits Lucas, Director of Intelligence Solutions, Intel471

Maurits Lucas is Director of Intelligence Solutions at Intel 471, where he specialises in bridging the gap between technology and business. Maurits has held various positions in Cyber Threat Intelligence and IT Security over the past 17 years and is a subject matter expert on cybercrime, presenting his research and providing his thought-leadership to distinguished... audiences around the world.   more

James Maude, Lead Cyber Security Researcher, BeyondTrust

James Maude is the Lead Cyber Security Researcher at BeyondTrust. James has broad experience in security research, conducting in-depth analysis of malware and cyber threats to identify attack vectors and trends in the evolving security landscape. His background in forensic computing and active involvement in the security research community makes him an expert voice... on cybersecurity. He regularly presents at international events and hosts webinars to discuss threats and defense strategies. more

Ozgur Danisman, Vice-President of Sales Engineering, EMEA, Forcepoint

Ozgur (Oz) Danisman is the Vice-President of Sales Engineering EMEA Forcepoint. In this role, he leads the cybersecurity technology presales teams for region responsible for creating reference architecture standards to position Forcepoint’s data-first SASE solutions with enterprise customers globally. Oz and the sales engineering Forcepoint team provide security... for hybrid and rapidly evolving computing environments, with secure network access, protection of precious information assets, and delivery of unified secure access and data protection that spans on-premises, hybrid and cloud.   With over 20 years of experience in ICT, Oz has extensive background in cyber security, managed security services, IT auditing and monitoring, security governance, consulting and business development.  He has spent five years as Forcepoint’s Director of Sales Engineering for emerging markets, leading the pre-sales teams for the Middle East, Russia, Eastern Europe, Turkey and Africa. Before joining Forcepoint, Oz assumed multiple leadership roles, most recently as the business development manager of cybersecurity sales at Cisco Systems where he led the teams responsible for the organisation's biggest clients across the Middle East. Prior to that, he served as the CISO and IT Security Manager for the UAE’s Department of Justice, and has led security teams at Checkpoint, Vodafone and Turkcell.   Oz holds a notable double major in Computer and Electronics Engineering from Bogazici University and an MBA from Yeditepe University in Turkey and recently completed the Accelerated Development Programme from the London Business School. He has also received security certifications in CISSP, CISM, CISA and ISO 27001. more

Max Heinemyer, Director of Threat Hunting, Darktrace

Max is a cyber security expert with over nine years’ experience in the field, specializing in network monitoring and offensive security. At Darktrace, Max works with strategic customers to help them investigate and respond to threats, as well as overseeing the cyber security analyst team in the Cambridge UK headquarters. Prior to his current role, Max led the Threat... and Vulnerability Management department for Hewlett-Packard in Central Europe. In this role he worked as a white hat hacker, leading penetration tests and red team engagements. He was also part of the German Chaos Computer Club when he was still living in Germany. Max holds a MSc from the University of Duisburg-Essen and a BSc from the Cooperative State University Stuttgart in International Business Information Systems. more

Amr El-Hatter, Regional Sales Manager, EMEA, FireMon

Amr El-Hatter is a Regional Sales Manager for Cybersecurity Vendor, FireMon. Based in Dubai, Amr is responsible for driving the awareness and growth of FireMon within the META region. In this role, Amr works closely with enterprise organisations to build out comprehensive and innovative security programmes to deliver the highest security posture available. His knowledge... and insights has seen Amr win a number of large enterprise accounts across the region. Due to his extensive experience, Amr is a regionally recognised cybersecurity innovator, leader, expert and speaker. more

Hamid Qureshi, Territory Sales Manager, Middle East & Africa, Entrust

Hamid Qureshi is directly responsible for the Entrust Data Protection Solution business in the Middle East. Hamid’s primary focus is to cultivate existing relationships with key customers and expand into new areas leveraging the expanded data security portfolio of Entrust.  Hamid has over 20 years’ experience of helping organisations, across all industry... verticals, solve their complex IT requirements. He has been part of and led successful sales teams both at Entrust and previously at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. In his spare time Hamid enjoys playing football and is a keen golfer. more

Hatem Ali Global Services and Intelligence Lead, MEA, FireEye

Hatem Ali is the regional lead for FireEye Global Services and Intelligence (GSI) division, covering Middle East and Africa. Prior to this role, Hatem held many cyber security technical and sales positions within companies like HPE, RSA, IBM-ISS, and Fortinet.  Hatem has devoted the last 20 years working with organizations across multiple industries on the... best practices to become more resilient to cyber risk, traversing areas like security organization and architecture, security operations, threat intelligence, cyber security consulting, governance, risk, and compliance (GRC). Hatem has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the American University in Cairo, and cyber security public policy diploma from Harvard, and is a certified ISO 27001 Lead Auditor, and an active CISSP member.  more

Mostafa Soliman, Senior Consultant, System Engineering, iMETA, LogRhythm

A cybersecurity professional with 15+ years in the industry with focus on cyber defense, security operations, threat detection, and incident response.  Mostafa has worked on building and augmenting multiple Security Operations Center (SOC) during his previous roles, he is currently working as a Senior Sales Engineer for LogRhythm in the Middle East Region. Mostafa... is currently studying for his Master of Information Security Engineering with incident response concentration from the SANS Technology Institute (STI) and holds industry certifications such GSEC, GCIH, GCIA, GNFA, and others. more

Amjad Khader, Enterprise Sales Manager, LogRhythm

Amjad Khader is a seasoned cybersecurity expert with 16+ years progressive business and technical experience. Passionate about solving todays security problems and currently Regional Sales Manager, working hard to strategize with LogRhythm customers to ensure they reach their professional goals. Experience with different security vendors and contributing in the success... of many key projects in the middle east region. Also, accomplished many industry leading certifications including: CISSP, CISM, C|EH, ISO27001. more

Kurt Glazemakers, CTO, AppGate

Kurt Glazemakers is responsible for defining the strategy, development and roadmap of the next generation of Appgate's flagship Software-Defined Perimeter solution. Glazemakers was the independent technical expert within the Medina Capital investment team that exercised due diligence prior to the acquisition of Cryptzone in April 2014. Glazemakers is renowned... for his extensive knowledge of software development, especially in the Software-Defined network and storage area. Prior to joining Appgate, he served as CTO of CloudFounders, a developer of advanced private cloud technologies for IT as a service (ITaaS) solutions. He also served as Terremark’s CTO Europe (now part of Verizon), where he was responsible for the development of Enterprise Cloud. Throughout his career, Glazemakers has focused on the development of innovative solutions that increase the availability, security and scalability of mission-critical infrastructures. He holds a Master of Engineering, Telecommunications and Computer Networks from University Ghent in Belgium. more

Mark Richmond, Senior Solutions Engineer EMEA, Stealthbits

Mark Richmond has over 20 years of experience in the IT field assisting companies to protect their data, infrastructure & credentials, audit critical systems and defend against cyberattacks. He has supported both local and global customers in their search for the best business-focused IT services, by enabling them to fully utilize IT infrastructure with an emphasis... on the business needs. more

Lonnie Benavides, Head of Infrastructure and Application Security, OneLogin

Lonnie Benavides is an accomplished cybersecurity leader with more than 20 years industry experience, and is currently the Head of Infrastructure and Application Security at OneLogin. Lonnie began his career as a communications encryption specialist in the U.S. Air Force and went on to conclude his military service as a Technical Lead of the first red team in the... Air National Guard. As an advanced penetration tester, Lonnie supported companies such as Washington Mutual and JP Morgan Chase, and eventually went on to launch the Boeing red team. Lonnie was responsible for leading global cybersecurity services and operations at DocuSign and McKesson, fostering his expertise in enterprise cyberthreat detection and response. Lonnie is a recognized speaker within the Phoenix education community, numerous industry conferences, and has also contributed to publications and radio shows such as TechRepublic and NPR.  more

Mr A Karthik, Chief Evangelist, ManageEngine

Karthik Anandarao has over 20 years of IT experience, having started his career as a Network Administrator at Zoho. Today, He is the Chief Technical Evangelist for ManageEngine and heads the Technical Research and Marketing Team for MENA region. He has got hands-on experience on all IT Domains - vis-a-vis - IT/Enterprise Service Management, IT Operations Management,... Active Directory and Identity Management, Security and Information Event Management, Unified Endpoint Management, Privileged Access Management, and Data Analytics. He represents ManageEngine at all tradeshows and events, be it physical or virtual, across MENA primarly (and the rest of the world, depending on his activity schedule) and leads the team during Webinars and Seminars. He is an enthusiastic speaker and is often spotted at Industry events across the region. He has had the privilege to deliver guest lectures at quite a few Educational Institutions across Oman, Malaysia, India, France, Morocco, Belgium, UK and the US.  more

Jason Steer, Principal Security Strategist, Recorded Future

Jason is a techie at heart and has built and broken computers and networks since 1996! Jason has worked at a number of successful technology companies over the past 15 years, including IronPort, Veracode & FireEye. Jason has worked as a media expert with the BBC, CNN & Al Jazeera  and has worked with both the EU and UK Governments on cybersecurity strategy.

Kamel Tamimi, Director of Engineering, META/APAC, Cofense

Kamel Tamimi is Director of Engineering, META/APAC at Cofense (formally known as PhishMe) and has over 17 years of cyber security experience. Throughout his time at Cofense, Kamel has assisted major enterprises across the region to establish effective phishing mitigation and resilience programs. With programs delivered across multiple verticals - including oil and... gas, finance, energy, and aviation – Kamel has developed a breadth of understanding through dealing with a variety of challenges in different sectors, and is able to bring a wealth of insight to each new challenege. He passionately believes in Cofense’s message and vision of enabling and empowering human intelligence as the key to improving organizations’ cyber resilience. more

Tom McVey, Solutions Architect, Menlo Security

Tom McVey is an EMEA Solutions Architect at Menlo Security, where he works to achieve his customer’s technical requirements and architects web and email isolation deployments for organisations across many different industries. Coming from a background in UEBA & insider threat - he provides expert cybersecurity advice and strategic guidance to... his clientele. Prior to Menlo, he always had a passion for cybersecurity and IT. In his spare time Tom likes to play music and watch Formula 1 cars go around a track very quickly. more