< PreviousEmitac has appointed Mohammed Nimer as the new head of sale for the company. With over two decades of IT and managerial sales experience within UAE and Middle east, Nimer possesses account planning and channel management expertise, and his appointment adds to the strength of Emitac’s senior management. Nimer’s interpersonal skills and prowess in addressing client qualify him as the perfect leader forefront of improving and boosting overall sales. Besides Nimer’s vibrant experience from strategy development to relationship management and overall sales, he possesses a dense knowledge of organizational and individual buying behaviour that will aid ladder up Emitac’s rank even higher. “Nimer’s background in sales and management makes a great fit for shaping enterprise strategies on that front at Emitac. Under his guidance, we are optimistic that the enterprise will nurture a culture of continuous growth,” said Antoine Abi Aad, general manager of Emitac Enterprise Solutions. To tackle growing digital transformation needs, Reem Asaad has been appointed Cisco’s new vice president for the MEA region. Asaad brings over two decades of experience across industries including technology, financial services, customer experience. Her role will focus on Cisco’s solutions portfolio and also consolidating existing and develop new collaborations and partnerships with governments and customers. “Having been a Cisco Client and a Partner over the years, it is with great pride that I join the Cisco team, ” said Reem Asaad, vice president, Cisco MEA. “There is no doubt that the Middle East and Africa region has a huge potential which I look forward to unleashing together with the support of my wider team. Together, we will focus on how to expand Cisco’s reach, empower local businesses and create a greater business and social impact in the MEA region,” added Asaad. , FireEye has appointed Gordon Love as its new vice president for Middle East and Africa to help drive growth in the region and deepen relationships with its existing partners. Love will report directly to FireEye’s vice president of EMEA, Kevin Taylor, and will be based in the company’s office in Dubai, UAE. “With the growing and sophisticated threat landscape, there has never been a more critical time for organisations across MEA to build effective cyber security solutions. Now is the ideal time to join FireEye as our range of offerings put us in a great position to capitalize on this growing market opportunity. I look forward to working closely with our team and MEA customers and as we work together to put efficient defense strategies in place,” Love said. Love brings a wealth of engineering, management and sales experience spanning more than two decades in the IT security and enterprise software sectors. Prior to joining FireEye, Love spent 10 years at Symantec. PEOPLE Channel Middle East brings you a roundup of comings and goings in the regional IT channel Expands senior management team to enhance account planning and channel management expertise Reem Asaad as vice president will be responsible for Cisco’s MEA operations FIREEYE APPOINTS NEW VICE PRESIDENT FOR MEA EMITAC NAMES MOHAMMED NIMER HEAD OF SALES CISCO APPOINTS NEW LEADER FOR MEA REGION Aims to drive growth and deepen relationships with partners in the region To contribute or feature a new appointment, please contact sarah.rizvi@itp.com (10) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 www.channelmiddleeast.com Love brings engineering, management and sales experience in the IT security and enterprise software sectors. Her role will focus on Cisco’s solutions portfolio and consolidating existing collaborations while developing new ones. Nimer possesses extensive account planning and channel management expertise.(11) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 Orange Business Services has appointed Osama Shwaihat as its new managing director for the UAE and the Arabian Gulf region. The digital service and enterprise specialist firm made the appointment on Sunday, with Shwaihat taking up the reins with immediate effect, at the company’s regional headquarters in Dubai. Shwaihat brings over 25 years of multinational IT sales, consulting, technical and management experience in the Gulf, Africa and Levant regions, across the enterprise, public, and commercial sectors. He will head up the Arabian Gulf team, as it looks to kick off a number of enterprise digitalisation projects across the region. “The UAE is a key strategic market for Orange Business Services in the Middle East, where we are re-aligning our strategy to accelerate growth and support the digital transformation objectives of governments and enterprises. We aim to continue to grow our presence and impact through deeper collaboration and co-innovation with customers and partners in the UAE and, ultimately, to be the preferred digital services provider. Osama Shwaihat brings a wealth of experience in leadership and technology across the enterprise and public sectors that will be invaluable to achieve this,” said Sahem Azzam, Vice President Middle East & Africa, Orange Business Services. Orange Business Services has a sizable presence in the Middle East and is present in morethan 160 countries across the globe, working with over 3,000 global enterprises. CENTRIFY APPOINTS CHRIS PETERSON Peterson brings over 30 years of enterprise channel, sales, and marketing experience ORANGE BUSINESS SERVICES GETS NEW MD Orange Business Services has its regional headquarters in Dubai’s Silicon Oasis Centrify, a provider of cloud-ready Zero Trust Privilege, announced Chris Peterson as the new vice president of Worldwide Channels & Alliances. Peterson will accelerate Centrify’s channel partner ecosystem and will lead the company’s global channels and alliances. “Our partners are essential to helping customers understand best practices for least privilege solutions, and how to best secure and manage their infrastructure as they go through cloud transformations,” said Peterson. “I’m excited to join the Centrify team and optimise our partner ecosystem so we can more effectively communicate the value of an Identity-Centric approach to Privileged Access Management. That starts with providing a choice of solutions and deployment options to our customers, as well as a best-in-class selection of channel partners, technology partners and global systems integrators to reach and positively impact the enterprise and key vertical markets.” Peterson’s credentials extend, not just as a recognised channel expert but prior to Centrify, Chris served as vice president of Global Channels at Tenable, where he designed, built and executed a robust channel and managed security service provider (MSSP) program. “Chris is the perfect channel executive to help Centrify transform into a channel-first market leader where he can repeat his success driving companies like ours to their next stage of scale,” said Howard Greenfield, Chief Revenue Officer for Centrify. SERGIO MACCOTTA APPOINTED SVP FOR SAP MIDDLE EAST SOUTH Supporting the region’s national visions for digital transformation underpinned by customer experiences, global market leader in enterprise application software, SAP, has promoted Sergio Maccotta to the role of Senior Vice President of SAP Middle East South. Maccotta replaces Gergi Abboud, who has been promoted to the role of Head of SCP for SAP EMEA South. In the Middle East, SAP remains committed to supporting public and private sector organizations to transform and excel as Intelligent Enterprises. Participating as the Innovative Enterprise Software Partner for Expo 2020 Dubai, and advancing the 5-year USD 200 million UAE investment plan, SAP has opened cloud data centers in the UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “With a view to accelerating the nationwide innovative digital transformation agenda, I look forward to the opportunity to build on SAP’s poll position in the Middle East supported by its broad, open partner ecosystem.” said Sergio Maccotta, Senior Vice President SAP Middle East South. “The opportunity represented by the rapid growth of the Experience Economy requires a renewed focus on our customers’ business outcomes to ensure they thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” The appointment comes as SAP drives a new era of customer cloud-based innovation Maccotta replaces Gergi Abboud, who has been promoted to head of SCP for SAP EMEA South. Peterson will accelerate Centrify’s channel partner ecosystem and lead the company’s global channels and alliances. Shwaihat brings over 25 years of multinational IT sales, consulting, technical and management experience.Organisations need an active and vocal data ethics leader at the helm with authority to drive ethical standards. Data-sharing strategy for intentional impact must exist within an adaptive ethical framework to balance risk with contextual opportunity. LYDIA CLOUGHERTY JONES, SENIOR DIRECTOR ANALYST Lydia Clougherty Jones, senior director analyst, Gartner on how organisations must define their ethical framework for proper data use before they pursue new data-driven initiatives, and regularly after launching them LYDIA CLOUGHERTY JONES or customers could argue that using this data violates their expectations about how data is collected and used. “Few consider ethics until there’s a problem. Only then do they stop to consider the potential risk” Data ethics dilemmas like these are becoming more urgent as business leaders look to data and analytics programs to produce business value. “As more organisations look to benefit from data, there will be an inevitable increase in data use and sharing missteps,” said Lydia Clougherty Jones, senior director analyst, Gartner. “Organisations with an ethics culture will be better prepared to avoid missteps altogether or handle them effectively when they occur.” Gartner defines “data ethics” as a system of values and moral principles related to the responsible collection, use and sharing of data. Data ethics violations range from overt and public to subtle and secret — like algorithms that suggest higher interest rates for minority mortgage applicants or lower lines of credit for women credit card applicants. Whether overt or subtle, ethics missteps are bad for business. Affected stakeholders are left feeling that a promise — implicit or explicit — has been broken. Explanations based on after- the-fact analysis appear, when viewed through an ethics lens, disingenuous — even hypocritical. For organisations, the crisis is often a surprise, as few consider ethics until there’s a problem. Only then do they stop to consider the potential risk of unintended consequences. There’s another way. For a more proactive stance, take these three actions. 3 WAYS TO EMBRACE PROACTIVE DATA ETHICS >> The views expressed in this article are Lydia Clougherty Jones’s own opinions and not necessarily those of Channel Middle East magazine. SHIFT THE ORGANISATION’S DATA GOVERNANCE MINDSET Many organisations approach data governance as a set of hard-and-fast rules, guided by data protection regulatory requirements like the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Unfortunately, a fixed approach to data governance is ill-suited to today’s rapidly changing digital environments. Data ethics also encompasses far more than privacy and security compliance. Shift the governance mindset away from command-and-control or one-size-fits- all toward adaptive governance instead. With adaptive governance, organisations determine the right governance styles and mechanisms for a given context. “Organisations need an active and vocal data ethics leader at the helm with authority to drive ethical standards. Data- sharing strategy for intentional impact must exist within an adaptive ethical framework to balance risk with contextual opportunity,” said Clougherty Jones. “Building trust with emerging technologies is essential, along with aligning data and analytics strategy to organisation goals.” An adaptive approach invites leaders from different functions to collaborate on data ethics principles to guide decision making, while acknowledging that new circumstances may arise for which there is no precedent. Thoughtful leadership discussions about what it means for the organisation to do the “right thing” helps provide a framework for ethical thinking and decision making. BECOME A DATA ETHICS THOUGHT LEADER Organisations need an active and vocal data Should a K-12 education system collect data from school laptops to assess student performance? Or a car manufacturer collect and share data on vehicle trips to inform smart city programs? Or should a maker of sensor-equipped industrial equipment use IoT data to make product improvements and sell insights? Organisations could argue that collecting these types of data enables them to improve service and offer broader social benefits. Conversely, students or drivers (12) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST__APR-JUN 2020 www.channelmiddleeast.com INDUSTRY VIEW // TOP TIPS FROM MASTERS OF THE CHANNELethics leader at the helm with authority to drive ethical standards. Although many organisations have multiple people handling ethics, data and analytics leaders can establish themselves as data ethics experts. One key task will be to encourage cross- functional conversations about data and appropriate use and sharing with peers in marketing, technology, product development, finance, legal and across the business. Start these conversations early in the process when planning new data initiatives or projects, and revisit the discussion at frequent intervals to address ongoing or new challenges. Focus on the ways that an ethical approach can cultivate customer trust and drive business performance. CREATE A CULTURE OF RESPONSIBLE DATA USE Spend time discussing and grappling with complex notions of right and wrong to develop a cultural view of data ethics. Given the contextual nature of data and its use, employ real or realistic dilemmas as jumping-off points to fuel discussion. Also be mindful of customer and stakeholder norms and expectations around data use and sharing. Consider the example of a retailer that wants to capture customer location data to share with business partners and to send coupons when shoppers near a store. Three mental models could drive how the organisation thinks about ethics: • Universalist: Ethical behaviour means you have a set of principles and apply them in the same way to all data in all circumstances. • Consequentialist: Ethical behaviour means you pursue positive outcomes for a defined set of stakeholders. • Care ethics: Ethical behaviour means you monitor for unintended negative outcomes from data use, and fix them when they occur. Each mental model can be used to justify a yes or no position. A universalist might look at company policy and decide that it’s ethical to send a coupon if the company allows location data and it’s unethical if it doesn’t. A consequentialist may say that if the coupon benefits the customer, then sending it is ethical, whereas it’s not if customers find unsolicited coupons creepy. Care ethicists might say that opt- ins or other permissions make unsolicited coupons okay or they may conclude that there are other, less-intrusive ways to attract people to stores. Discussions to unpack the complex nature of real-world data decisions help prepare organisations to do the right thing all the time — not just when something bad happens. // TOP TIPS FROM MASTERS OF THE CHANNEL (13) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST__APR-JUN 2020 INDUSTRY VIEW(14) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 www.channelmiddleeast.com MAKING SECURITY A GLOBAL DISCUSSION Industry security experts gather at ITP Media Group office in Dubai to discuss the current security challenges, dire consequences of delaying security implementation and how businesses can work towards the common goal of enhancing security in the digital era (14)www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 In today’s hyper-connected world, digital data continues to expand exponentially. This data is valuable and understandably vulnerable to risks similar to any other commodity. The term data security encompasses safeguarding the data itself, along with identity and access management. That is, who can access or remove that data? Security is now among the top three con- cerns among most CIOs, and with technol- ogy being fundamental to many business- es, it is not surprising that cyber attacks pose significant threats. As an example, a recent data theft involved the loss of sensi- tive information on current and former employees and hackers gained access to the personal data through a third-party service provider. Getting breached may be inevitable and hackers will find new ways to get what they want, but this can be made difficult for them with multiple layers of security. The extensive and variable risks busi- nesses face upon falling victim to a data breach include financial loss, reputational damage, operational disruptions and legal ramifications. Managing the after- math can be very costly as well. The Channel Middle East security roundtable conducted in association with Kingston Technology gave the all-round- ed view of security in the digital era com- bining the perspectives of the end-user, channel and the vendor under one roof. Discussions revolved around why securi- ty is important, different challenges in data security, consequences of data breaches and security best practices. Speaking about the depth of discus- sions at the security roundtable, Antoine Harb, team leader MEA, Kingston Technology said, “It was very insightful to get feedback from different channel stakeholders and combine it with the end-user’s view of the market require- ments. This will also allow vendors like us to introduce technologies and func- tionalities in our products that will help tackle the vibrant security landscape in a better way.” Data breaches cost enterprises an aver- age of $3.92 million. That is how signifi- cant an impact a breach can have if an organisation does not invest in a robust security posture. Statistics from global surveys reveal that within the last 12 months, hardware- or silicon-level securi- ty breach has compromised data of near- ly 63 per cent of companies. “As the amount of data generated keeps increas- ing, the need to protect it is also increas- ing. Security is definitely a boardroom- level discussion today, and organisations have already started investing in secur- ing the right talent to fulfil this need,” added Khalil Yazbeck, business develop- ment manager, Kingston Technology. Addressing security in today’s context of a mobile workforce powered by digital transformation, cloud initiatives, IoT and internet-enabled devices, becomes very relevant because there are so many end- Roundtable participants • Antoine Harb, team leader Middle East and Africa, Kingston Technology • Khalil Yazbeck, business development manager, Kingston Technology • Ryan Amparo, product specialist, Kingston Technology • Khuloud Mousa, senior specialist information security • Jaleel Rahiman, director IT, Prime Healthcare Group • Vikas Nagdev, technology consultant (cyber security & data centre), StarLink ME • Prasad Babu, business unit manager – security, Alpha Data Dubai • Swapna Subramani, MD professional services MEA, 451research • Sarah Rizvi, editor, Channel Middle East Antoine Harb, team leader Middle East and Africa, Kingston Technology. Ryan Amparo, product specialist, Kingston Technology. Khalil Yazbeck, business development manager, Kingston Technology. (15)(16) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 www.channelmiddleeast.com points that need to be secured and encrypted. Two interesting lines of thought emerge from here - the impor- tance of encrypting data and regulations that mandate reporting a cyber theft. After securing the perimeter and the network, encryption can help to keep data safe as it is completely unreadable without the correct encryption key. Kingston Technology Specialist, Ryan Amparo explained the difference between hardware and software encryp- tion, highlighting that while both have their own use cases, hardware encryp- tion is more secure than software encryption. “Hardware encryption uses a dedicated processor physically located on the encrypted drive which means that authentication takes place on the hard- ware. However, software encryption is only as secure as the rest of your comput- er or smartphone. If a hacker can crack your password, the encryption is immedi- ately undone.” At the roundtable, the human element was also discussed as being the weakest link in the chain. A very clear analogy was presented. “In your home, you have a door and a lock, but you also need to teach everyone how to use them. This means that while adopting the right tech- nology is important, equally critical is to train and educate the workforce on how to utilise the technology in the best inter- ests of the organisation,” explained Khuloud Mousa, senior specialist infor- mation security. Level of cyber security discussions Khalil Yazbeck: Security should be at the forefront of any new tools an organ- isation embraces. This means to engage with your IT, compliance and legal teams from a very early stage of any digital transformation plans. Each of these areas will have a checklist of what needs to be fulfilled whether it’s from a data process- ing/privacy standpoint or a security and risk assessment. Any large projects need to essentially satisfy all aspects of the organisation’s cyber security checklist. Once implemented, any risks need to be documented, security and data process- ing policies updated. Vikas Nagdev: Information security is one of the top three priorities of any organisation today. Whether this comes from the data threat incidents reported or due to compliance requirements, regional organisations are actively invest- ing in security. Allowing the data to be shared through encrypted hardware will increase the flexibility of the mobile workforce with no compromise to data. Jaleel Rahiman: Security has to be embedded in everything you do from the very beginning. One of the things that is commonplace is that while security holds boardroom-level priority, it is still driven by regulations. In several instances, we have noticed that senior management is not as serious when there are no regula- tions. Khuloud Mousa: Some time back secu- rity used to be reactive or implemented just to meet compliance. Over time, organisations have started understand- ing how critical it is to embed security in the blueprint of a project. Finally, organ- isations have started security discussion not just to fulfil a regulation but to genu- inely upgrade their security. Nagdev: Two types of customers co-exist in the market. One, that is only looking at compliance and purchase products that fulfil the majority of the requirements and the other that realises its business needs and is worried about business con- tinuity in the event of a breach. Ryan Amparo: From an information security perspective, three things are equally important - confidentiality, integri- ty and availability. You cannot take any one of them off. For example, if a company locks all the USB ports, then they are tak- ing away the availability. Organisations need to understand the importance of cre- ating a security blueprint that does not compromise on any of the elements of this triad. Challenges in security Swapna Subramani: Awareness is the number one challenge, especially the fact that most of the organisations are taking a more reactive approach than a proac- tive approach to security. And of course, there is the knowledge that your reputa- tion will be at stake. You know there is going to be loss of trust with the custom- ers, especially now because most of the services that organisations provide have a digital element in them. Nagdev: Some organisations do not even have basic endpoint security. Businesses that do not have critical operations or data that demands privacy, seem uncon- cerned about breaches. So the value of data is one challenge; another is budget. IT managers that may be worried about data theft are sometimes unable to secure budget approvals. Mousa: Affordability is definitely a chal- lenge. Security is a support service in the organisation and not the core business. So, it cannot be more expensive than the core business. Technology is evolving at (16)(17) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 a fast pace, and it may not be affordable or feasible for organisations to change their entire security set-up frequently. Security solutions providers must think about what the market needs and what it can afford. While businesses need a proper security infrastructure to main- tain business continuity and protect intel- lectual property, they cannot invest all their budget on upgrading security. Antoine Harb: Vendors must also understand that many organisations have limited budgets, and they must bring something affordable to the table. Apart from being affordable, the solution must cater to the exact needs of the organisa- tion. At Kingston, we create lasting rela- tionships with our clients and make sure we understand what they need. If their requirement is just data protection, we will offer them encrypted drives. The mobile and digital workforce must not compromise data as it leaves the network parameters. Nagdev: For security providers, it is vital to understand the demands of the cus- tomer and offer them solutions accord- ingly. For instance, we see that the bank- ing sector has all the latest security appliance, not because they need to com- ply with certain standards but because their nature of business is critical. Now that OT and IT are becoming more and more interconnected, we also see verti- cals, such as oil & gas, water and elec- tricity, that are increasing their attention Khuloud Mousa, senior specialist information security. and investment in security. Yazbeck: Kingston has a host of hard- ware encrypted SSD’s and USB’s for organisations to leverage. There is no one size fits all solution. Thus every com- pany needs to establish its own approach to encrypting data and adding that vital layer of security for end-user data protec- tion. It doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. A lot can be achieved by sim- ply switching out non-encrypted SSDs/ USBs with hardware encrypted solutions, resulting in a cost-effective solution that requires virtually no cultural change or extensive training often found with expensive enterprise solutions. Mousa: In the event of a breach, if data is encrypted, then it is of no use to any- one unless they have the key. We might as well hand over the data to the hackers and ask them to decrypt it if they can. Harb: Kingston USB keys come with an additional layer of security in terms of the number of attempts to enter the right password. This is set at ten attempts as a standard after which data will erase auto- matically. Customers have the option to customise the number of attempts as they deem better. Consequences of a breach Yazbeck: A data breach has dire implica- tions for any organisations that extend beyond data loss. A breach costs a compa- ny its reputation and waste of resources and money to fix it. The safe transfer of data among personal and work devices is another challenge of the connected era. Subramani: There is a saying, “until it rains, you don’t need an umbrella.” Many organisations haven’t yet experienced a data breach and thus consider taking basic steps to be compliant enough. Security needs to be proactive and not reactive because the cost of data loss is high, and it makes more sense for organ- isations to think of security holistically right from the beginning. Prasad Babu: One of the major conse- quences of a data breach is the loss of value and the brand image compromised. Rahiman: One key issue is the lack of transparency of the breach. There is no regulation here that mandates organisa- tions to report an incident. As so many incidents go unreported, the perception at board-level in many organisations is that even if anything happens, no one will know. As regulations mature, they will change the way the board addresses security challenges. Mousa: Regulations help, but again it is the mindset that needs to change. Regulation can be for the few exceptions that refuse to understand the dire consequences of ignor- ing security. But if the majority of people choose to understand the importance of security, then they will share how they had Vikas Nagdev Technology consultant StarLink ME (17) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020(18) CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 www.channelmiddleeast.com dealt with it and its impact. Rahiman: However, when the decision comes down to the board-level, priorities change and decisions are made as per budgets and not because they are not aware of the challenges or consequences. Harb: Regulations can play a significant role in steering conversations towards better security implementation. Take the example of the regulation imposed in Europe. Security has been an active part of conservations across the board in Europe for many years. But until they introduced the GDPR, no one was obliged to follow that road. In terms of changing how organisa- tions can prioritise security in their budgets and buying decisions, we have seen some progress there as well. End- users have started including their secu- rity specialists or CISOs in a sales meeting, and that shows an inclination towards adopting security best practic- es and not just because a regulation mandates it. Human element Subramani: Data is everywhere, and it needs to be like a holistic approach. While data security is crucial, another vital aspect is educating employees through cyber security training within organisations to strengthen the first line of defence. Babu: Creating awareness about security best practices is a critical challenge. Instinctively, people tend to trust the tech- nology they already have, and many are in denial that they will/can be breached. So awareness will play an important part, especially that it is not the size of an organisation that determines whether it will be breached or not, but how valuable their data may be to someone. Rahiman: In the healthcare industry, in particular, it is not only critical to educate the workforce. Healthcare providers in the region take measures to protect patient records and are also bound by restrictions that regulate the flow of data outside. However, sometimes the data shared with the patient is at risk, as they either don’t realise the consequences or are not in the best state of mind. With digital transformation and IoT impacting healthcare industry as well, the risk and challenges have increased further. Mousa: If employees don’t know how to recognise a security threat, how can they be expected to avoid it, report it or remove it? In your home, you have a door and a lock, but you also need to teach everyone how to use them. It is thus imperative that organisations implement a viable security training program. In addition to this, as information security specialists, we also need to work on our skills to make decision-makers under- stand the importance of investing in security best practices. Essentially, secu- rity specialists must train themselves to be marketers and convert their technical pitch into profits and business benefits. What we need to take to the board is not technical jargon but a language that the board understands. Amparo: From a Kingston perspective, we follow the security by design concept. Everything we do (develop/design/buy/ implement, including third-party prod- ucts) these days goes through our com- pliance and legal teams. It’s also about educating the workforce, creating aware- ness and empowering from the top-down, ensuring all employees are fully conver- sant with the Employee Data Processing Policy. That they all receive adequate and frequent training updates around every- thing GDPR/ePrivacy and cyber securi- ty. This will not only be beneficial to the (18)(19) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020 company but also prepare our employees for threats that they could experience outside of the workplace. Securing data Yazbeck: Simplicity is the key. What customers want is something that fits their security need, but at the same time, they do not want to go through multiple steps and passwords. They need something uncomplicated. Also, the winning pitch would be one where you don’t oversell. We have an entry- level encrypted USB and a military- grade USB which is much more expen- sive. So, we need to understand the customer’s need and not just offer something that brings in more money. Fulfilling client needs with the right solution needs to be a top priority. Nagdev: Security requirements and measures may vary depending on the nature of the business of an organisation. As an example, in the healthcare or avia- tion industry, there is a lot of patient/pas- senger data that needs to be kept confi- dential. On the other hand, for the oil & gas sector, perimeter protection is a big- ger priority. So, the security strategies would vary as per industry and vertical since their requirements are different. Yazbeck: Kingston addresses the securi- ty challenge by securing the storage. Hardware encryption allows companies with a digital workforce to run their oper- ations remotely on a secure SSD. Kingston offers USBs and SSDs that are hardware encrypted, equipped with high- end 256-bit encryption. Amparo: The type of encryption depends on individual company requirements. Software encryption relies on the host operating system and is thus vulnerable whereas hardware encryption is embedded into the circuit, into the controller. While both exist in the market but from a techni- cal and security perspective, hardware encryption is a more suitable solution. Harb: Kingston’s SSDs incorporate encryption solutions such as TCG Opal, 256-bit encryption and eDrive support. Our business encrypted USB range is XTS 256-bit hardware-encrypted with a host of features and managed solutions to meet every need whether it’s to satisfy compliance standards, rigid security requirements or data protection at a mili- tary and government level. Either way, we have subject matter experts on hand who can help anyone work through some- times tricky considerations that would best fit their business’s needs through our Ask an Expert service. Subramani: The key takeaway from the discussion is that the end-user needs to be enabled and that endpoint security is critical. And to that effect, the third end, encryption plays a huge part in making sure that the ultimate endpoint, which is with the end-user, is encrypted. Finally, since security is fundamental in the digi- tal era, as the number of endpoints becomes more and more complex, it is best to have security in-built within all the devices. Jaleel Rahiman Director IT, Prime Healthcare Group Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Swapna Subramani managing director professional services MEA, 451research Prasad Babu Business unit manager (security) Alpha Data Dubai (19) www.channelmiddleeast.com CHANNEL MIDDLE EAST_APR-JUN 2020Next >