Business & Money | Sunday 10 December, 2017 2:49 am |

EY announced that it has opened a multimillion-dollar MENA Digital Security Operations Center (DSOC) inaugurated by Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Salem Al-Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications of Oman.

 

Using EY’s latest award-winning cyber analytics platform, the 24-hour facility offers cybersecurity-monitoring services focused around threat detection and threat hunting of the entire digital ecosystem – covering information technology (IT), operational technology (OT) and the internet of things (IoT). The launch of the center is in response to the increased demand for cyber-security services in the region and to solve the most complex cyber problems using machine-learning technology.

 

Abdulaziz Al-Sowailim, MENA Chairman and CEO, EY, said: “As organizations in MENA become increasingly reliant on digital technologies, they also become more vulnerable to cyber-attacks and digital risk. There is no industry that is immune. All enterprise clients need to move to a form of 24/7 monitoring to protect their digital presence from attack regardless of industry.”

 

“Our newest cyber center is the first of its kind in the region, serving clients across the Middle East and North Africa. The center allows specialized EY Cyber Analysts to detect and track advanced attackers inside a client’s network and actively monitor an attack throughout its lifespan, providing valuable insights for focused countermeasures and remediation.”

 

The EY MENA DSOC, located in Muscat, Oman, leverages its exclusive strategic alliance with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), a leader in solving security challenges using technology and cyber analytics, to deliver some of the most advanced behavioral cybersecurity tools available such as the award-winning anomaly detection technology, PathScan. EY and LANL were recently awarded a prestigious global scientific R&D 100 award for the development of this world-leading solution.

 

The center is the latest addition to EY’s global cybersecurity centers and is part of EY wavespace™, a global EY network of growth and innovation centers to help clients catch the next wave in radical breakthroughs in business transformation by tapping into innovative thinking across EY disciplines, experience and industry sectors.

 

Clients can now access one of the world’s most advanced cyber technology solutions, delivered as a service through EY’s DSOC on a subscription-based model. The center will have a dedicated focus on the MENA region in respect to its unique challenges and threats.

 

Clinton Firth, MENA Cybersecurity Leader, EY, said:

 

“Cyberattacks are no longer a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’. Hackers are increasingly relentless. When one tactic fails, they will try another until they breach an organization’s defenses. At the same time, rapid technology adoption is increasing an organization’s vulnerability to attack through increased online presence, broader use of social media, mass adoption of mobile devices, increased usage of cloud services, and the collection and analysis of big data.”

 

At EY’s DSOC, analysts will address four key cyber challenges affecting companies in the region: holistic digital ecosystem coverage, continuous 24x7 security monitoring, incident response, and threat intelligence.

 

“Traditional security systems are struggling to keep pace as organizations continue to invest in technology that makes their systems more intelligent, automated, and digitally connected. Consequently, there is an increasing need for organizations to embrace a more sophisticated approach to cyber security if they are to remain protected,” Clinton noted.