GCC countries are among the global leaders in cybersecurity preparedness, with the region's network security spend tripling to $1 billion by 2018, industry experts announced Wednesday at Infosecurity Middle East, part of ISNR. With the region's rapid economic development and connectivity in the Internet of Things era - especially in critical national infrastructure, oil and gas, and financial services - the GCC's network security spend is set to grow from $340 million in 2012 to $1 billion by 2018, according to a new Frost & Sullivan report. At Infosecurity Middle East's 6th International Cyber Crime Conference, localized from Europe's leading cyber security exhibition, law enforcement, legal, and business and IT experts debated and discussed Smart City, Internet of Things, and financial cyber security, the UAE National Agenda for Information Security, and online safety and privacy for children. "As cyber-threats grow in complexity and severity, GCC organizations are among the world's most advanced in deploying solutions that proactively protect devices, user information, and corporate data. Infosecurity Middle East is an ideal platform to promote the global Mobile Security Alliance and our enterprise mobility management and end user computing solutions," said Ian Evans, Vice President of End User Computing at VMware, and EMEA Managing Director at AirWatch. VMware AirWatch joins over 100 leading international exhibiting companies at Infosecurity Middle East, including Bitdefender, Blue Coat, Cyberoam Technologies, Dionach, Elettronica, Exclusive Networks, Huawei, QinetiQ, and Winsted. "Everyone involved in cybersecurity must always keep in mind that customers have different weak spots and different processes, with risks needing to be managed in different ways. There are exciting opportunities around those cybersecurity solutions that can take the fear factor out of unknown quantities, and make them ‘known', but there continues to be significant opportunities around those protection measures that apply the universe of known cyber threat knowledge, to keep us safe every day. Infosecurity Middle East is a major event for driving new business leads for our vendors, and enhancing the region's cybersecurity preparedness," said Nathan Clements, Managing Director, Exclusive Networks Middle East. Providing hands-on cybersecurity expertise, Infosecurity Middle East, in partnership with (ISC2), the global leader in cyber education, is hosting more than 40 free-to-attend, hands-on workshops, including in risk, governance, and cloud security. Infosecurity Middle East joins Emergency Response and Disaster Prevention, Fire Fighting Middle East, and Occupational Safety and Health Middle East at ISNR 2016. Organized by the UAE Ministry of Interior and Reed Exhibitions Middle East, ISNR 2016 runs till today (March 17) at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. — SG
