Chairman of the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA), Dr. Abdullah bin Sharaf Al-Ghamdi, emphasized that moving with accelerated steps towards digital transformation requires providing high security and ongoing investments in cybersecurity technologies, establishing best practices related to cybersecurity and governing these practices in an effective manner at the personal, corporate and national levels. He further said "Cybersecurity has always been accelerating, there is nothing that changes except when we talk that such acceleration would cost a lot of things." This came in a speech delivered by the SDAIA Chairman during a session entitled "Towards the unknown ... the benefits, challenges and risks of new technologies on cybersecurity" within the sessions of the Global Cybersecurity Forum 2020 held here today. Dr. Abdullah Al-Ghamdi added that the latest developments in emerging technologies will achieve many effects, especially as there are some technologies that enhance the ability to defend digital assets, at the same time weakening defense lines and making them fragile. He talked about five types of emerging technologies that could be vulnerable to cyberattacks: 5th generation; Internet of Things; Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing, indicating that there are major challenges represented in the transition from the hardware to the software and the existence of technologies at the lowest cost, as well as energies that are more smarter and sophisticated that will have severe consequences if falling into the wrong hands.
