DarkMatter to host inaugural cyber security conference

DarkMatter is hosting its inaugural cyber security conference, which is set to raise awareness of cyber-attack sophistication and regulatory impact on banks and financial institutions.

The DarkMatter conference, which is taking place in Dubai on 15 May, will look to help institutions understand their cyber risk profile and how they can go about becoming more cyber resilient. The conference provides a forum for DarkMatter as a cyber security expert to interact directly with senior sector executives and collaboratively work towards devising sustainable industry solutions.

The event also forms part of DarkMatter’s emerging activities aimed at raising awareness and understanding of cyber security as it relates to specific industry verticals, and the solutions available to counter the rising tide of serious cyber incidents. Branded Flash of Genius, DarkMatter will gather senior executives from selected industries in a series of conferences to discuss their cyber security experiences, and to demonstrate how entities can build cyber resilience by bringing together information security, business continuity and organisational governance functions.

This first conference in the series will feature speakers and panellists from DarkMatter as well as senior representatives from some of the region’s leading banking and financial, legal, insurance, and reputational organisations.

Commenting on the launch of this critical series of cyber security events, Harshul Joshi, DarkMatter’s senior vice president of cyber advisory services, said: “The ever-evolving nature of cyber threats means that traditional IT security countermeasures are no longer sufficient security mechanisms. In order to become more cyber resilient, banks and financial institutions must embrace a holistic approach to overcoming cyber threats. This is not just a technology issue, it’s a business critical issue that can and will have a profound impact on the life and sustainability of an organisation.”

Keynote speeches and interactive panel discussions during the event will be focussed on topics including the current regulatory landscape affecting banks and financial institutions in the UAE; cyber insurance and the challenges of quantifying cyber threats; and will analyse case studies that highlight the best cyber resilience strategies for the financial sector.

Simon Bell, cyber leader, Marsh MENA commented, “There is a tremendous amount of complexity within financial transactions and the platforms that power them. Having a handle on one’s risk profile and proactively protecting systems against internal and external threats is fast becoming a defining priority for the banking and financial services industry, and institutions that don’t place cyber resilience at the centre of the their operations stand a greater chance of suffering a catastrophic breach.”

Research data from an assortment of sources consistently points to the banking and financial services industries as being among the top-three targeted by cyber-attacks globally, accounting for as many as one in seven attacks in some regions of the world. The requirement to shore-up the defences of banks and financial institutions and to add resilience to their digital systems is only set to become more acute as innovations in mobile banking and the Internet of Things widens the threat surface.