On behalf of myself and the entire team of VirtuPort, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the Middle East & North Africa Information Security Conference – MENA ISC 2014 being held here at Riyadh, KSA at the fabulous Four Seasons Hotel.

This is the second event for VirtuPort in Saudi Arabia, but it is the fourth for MENA ISC dating back to 2011. This year’s conference has a distinguished list of speakers featuring Paul Dwyer President of the International Cyber Threat Task Force as well as many more from sponsors. Key themes that will be covered in this conference include: BYOD(Buy Your Own Device), Advanced Persistent Threats (APT), Malware and much more.

As the IT security landscape continues to evolve with rapid growth, complexity and sophistication, so does the need to devise security solutions and services to combat such risks and vulnerabilities. The goals of the conference are to discuss many issues related to Information Security, particularly, the strategies and how the security challenge for enterprises has extended beyond their traditional platforms to include mobile device including smart phones and tablets.

Verizon’s Data Breach & Investigation Breach Report 2013; highlights that: 69% of breaches were spotted by an external party – 9% were spotted by customers, 76% of network intrusions exploited weak or stolen credentials and 75% of attacks are opportunistic and financially motivated . Throughout 2012 and into 2014, we have seen the region continue to be affected by the Cyber Security threats, the examples are many, and the challenge is grave. With the collection of distinguished speakers, the information provided will help this audience of delegates from Various organizations to put information security back as a top priority in their organizations; and to address these simple or intermediate controls.
We want to thank all the invited speakers, sponsors and delegates who have come to make it a successful event.

The goals for this conference as in past years are:

– Increased awareness of Cyber and Information security issues

– Understanding more about possible solutions from industry expert

– Networking of delegates to share experiences to foster cooperation

We hope that you will enjoy the conference and benefit from it.