Maintaining Cyber Resilience in a Hacked World

Thank you Finance Middle East for featuring my most recent article, exploring the intersection between military intelligence operations and cybersecurity. A lot is written about the best practices to follow and what technologies to implement, but much less on how to build, structure and scale a world-class team to truly keep financial service firms protected.

What Can GCC Banks Learn from Military Intelligence? Within hours of Operation Epic Fury being launched in February, cyber analysts counted more than 60 active pro-Iranian 'hacktivist' groups. By March, the Iran-linked hacktivist group, Handala, claimed a major cyberattack against Stryker Corporation: a prominent U.S. medical technology company. Travis DeForge, Director Of Cybersecurity, Abacus analyses how GCC banks can limit cyber threats in a year of heightened geopolitical risk. 🔗 Full Analysis: https://lnkd.in/dEtYdqv6 #Cyber #Risk #FinanceME

Finance Middle East recently featured an article from Abacus Director of Cybersecurity, Travis DeForge, discussing the intersection between military intelligence operations and cybersecurity. Focusing in on what it takes to build a world-class cybersecurity team, the article examines the skills, structure, and scale needed to secure financial services firm against modern threats. Full analysis below.

Certes is proud to be sponsoring the FS-ISAC APAC Summit 2026, taking place in Singapore on 14-15 July. As financial institutions face growing pressure from cyber threats, regulatory scrutiny, and the challenge of protecting sensitive data across increasingly complex environments, the conversation around cyber resilience has never been more important. Join us at the event and meet Dan Panesar, CRO, Certes and, Bill Fraser, Sales Director, Certes. We'll be discussing how financial organizations can strengthen cyber resilience by protecting data itself, thereby reducing regulatory risk, supporting compliance with frameworks such as DORA and GDPR, and preparing for the impact of post-quantum threats. Find out more about the event here: https://lnkd.in/eKNtG3aM #FSISAC #APACSummit #FinancialServices

🔐 Heading to FS-ISAC APAC Summit in Singapore next week? The conversations around cyber resilience are changing. It's no longer just about protecting networks; it's about protecting the data itself. At Certes, we're looking forward to discussing how financial institutions are: - Securing sensitive data across legacy, hybrid and cloud environments - Strengthening cyber resilience without replacing existing infrastructure - Preparing for the transition to post-quantum cryptography through cryptographic agility If you're attending the summit and these challenges are on your agenda, I'd love to catch up and compare notes. Looking forward to seeing everyone in #Singapore! #FSISAC #CyberSecurity #FinancialServices #DataSecurity #CyberResilience #PostQuantumCryptography #CryptographicAgility

The recent Iran–Israel conflict was a reminder that modern conflicts don't just happen on the ground—they also unfold in cyberspace. While headlines often focus on military developments, cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure, financial institutions, healthcare, and communication networks have become an important part of geopolitical tensions. For businesses across the Gulf, it's a good reminder to ask a simple question: If a cyber incident happened tomorrow, are we prepared to detect it, respond quickly, and recover with minimal disruption? Cybersecurity is no longer just about protecting data—it's about protecting business continuity, customer trust, and operational resilience. I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Do you think organizations in the GCC are investing enough in cyber resilience, or is there still a gap? #CyberSecurity #CyberResilience #GCC #InformationSecurity #BusinessContinuity #SOC #DigitalTransformation

🌍 On Friday 3 July, while the Gulf was deep in its weekend, a statement went out through WAM. The UAE Cyber Security Council announced that the national cybersecurity ecosystem had detected and contained a series of sophisticated attacks against entities in the financial sector — advanced phishing, attempts to exploit vulnerabilities, malware. Financial services ran uninterrupted. The Council named no attacker and claimed no drama. It said what happened, and when. Consider the same week, elsewhere. A major telecom operator was ordered by its ministry to submit an incident report by 6 July. An insurer began notifying 4.38 million customers of a breach. Most institutions speak after — to a regulator, to customers, to a court. One institution spoke first, during the weekend, while the services it protects were still running. Speaking first is not public relations. It is an operational sentence: we saw it, we held it, and we are telling you now. A question for the region's security leaders: when the national layer speaks first, what does your own incident communication inherit from that standard? #Cybersecurity #UAE #GCC #FinancialServices #CISO #DigitalTrust

The latest NCSC update is another clear reminder that cybersecurity is no longer optional. It is essential for protecting businesses, customers, and digital trust. As the modern attack surface now extends across customer journeys, login flows, payment systems, APIs, and every digital interaction where trust can be created or broken, so, having cybersecurity in place is not enough. Choosing the right company, the right product, and the right layer of protection is what makes the real difference in preventing fraud, disruption, and advanced attacks. The modern attack surface now extends across customer journeys, login flows, payment systems, APIs, and every digital interaction where trust can be created or broken. At CyberSiARA, we believe the future of cybersecurity must be intelligent, adaptive, and embedded directly into digital journeys. In the next decade, cybersecurity will not only protect systems. It will define which organisations customers continue to trust. NCSC update: https://lnkd.in/e_8qQY-D #NCSC #uk #uknews #uae #uaenews #cyber #cyberattack #fruad

Every enterprise will face a cyber incident. The ones that survive are the ones that prepared before it happened. On Thursday, August 13th, Tenece Professional Services and Commvault are hosting an executive conversation in Accra on cyber resilience in modern enterprises, bringing together Okechukwu Eze, Jonathan Dartey, and Mubaraq Opeyemi Kolawole to discuss what it takes to protect critical assets and accelerate recovery when it matters most. This is the kind of conversation African enterprises need to be having. Ola JIMOH NNENNA NWACHI Chidera Udo-Azugo Dominii Antoine

Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE) released its 2025–2026 Annual Report with an unusually detailed public accounting of its authorized offensive cyber operations. The report disclosed that CSE used signals intelligence to map the full infrastructure of a ransomware-as-a-service gang, then conducted a technical operation to destroy that infrastructure and delete data the gang had stolen from victims — a rare public acknowledgment from a Five Eyes intelligence agency of seizing and erasing criminal ransomware data. The agency also disclosed authorized disruptions targeting 10 additional major ransomware groups during the reporting period. Two further operations were disclosed: offensive cyber tools were used to access systems of cybercriminals facilitating fentanyl precursor chemical sales; and a fourth operation disrupted the digital infrastructure of a foreign violent extremist group. Under Canada’s National Cyber Security Act, CSE is authorized to conduct active cyber operations outside Canada for government-sanctioned purposes. The level of operational transparency in this annual report is notable compared with typical Five Eyes public disclosures. https://lnkd.in/gac4zQFh #CyberSecurity #Ransomware #ThreatIntel #InfoSec