< PreviousVISION 2020 NETWORK MIDDLE EAST LOOKS THROUGH THE CRYSTAL BALL, WITH THE HELP OF EXPERTS, TO PREDICT THE MAJOR TECHNOLOGY TRENDS OF 2020 // INSIGHT / TECHNOLOGY TRENDS // WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /// 30 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / JANUARY 2020 /utomation, block- chain, edge com- puting distributed cloud and auto- mation are some of the trends that will drive disrup- tion and create new business opportuni- ties this year, and provide the foundation of our 2020 predictions guide. Autonomous things, which include drones, robots, ships and appliances, ex- ploit AI to perform tasks usually done by humans. This technology operates on a spectrum of intelligence ranging from semiautonomous to fully autonomous and across a variety of environments, in- cluding air, sea and land. While autonomous things currently exist mainly in controlled environments, like in a mine or warehouse, they will eventually evolve to include open pub- lic spaces. Autonomous things will also move from stand-alone to collaborative swarms, such as the drone swarms used during the Winter Olympic Games in 2018 in South Korea. However, autonomous things can- not replace the human brain and operate most effectively with a narrowly defined, well-scoped purpose, says Brian Burke, Gartner research VP. Even as AI adoption across enterpris- es is set for continued growth, organisa- tions will realise the importance of se- curing the systems. At least three aspects need attention to make AI work optimal- ly, says Rajesh Ganesan, vice president at ManageEngine. The first is to ensure the attackers do not mislead the AI system to make it perform the way they want in re- al-time by, for example, introducing bias. “Enterprises will see value in invest- ing in explainable AI technologies, which involve the AI system explaining its ac- tions and decisions, thus making it pos- sible to review and correct the AI in real- time,” he says. The second consideration, according to Ganesan, is to protect the AI train- ing data and the ML models, possibly by A investing in technologies like homomor- phic encryption. The third is guarding against the dangers of ‘concept drift,’ which is when the AI models built using the training data become irrelevant and the system behaves erratically. Jacob Chacko, regional business head, Middle East, Saudi and South Afri- ca (MESA) at HPE Aruba, foresees auto- mation enabling network management to shift from proactive to predictive mode. “AI-powered automation, heightened programmability and the ability to take action based on insights are all attributes of a modern, self-validating network,” Chacko says. “This year, we will see the continued advancements in the areas of data analy- sis and security, among others, which will enable the process of network man- agement to go from proactive to predic- tive, easing the burden on network man- agers and allowing them to focus their efforts on business-impacting issues,” Chacko adds. This level of automation will enable IT teams, to not only take a proactive stance, but will allow systems to predict when issues will occur based on nuanced patterns, behaviour monitoring and net- work health, easing the pressure on IT resources even further. Containers are, for all intents and purposes, taking over IT. In this modern era, networks that ex- hibit cloud-native characteristics – such as modularity, programmability, elastic- ity and resiliency – will become increas- ingly popular, Chacko observes. “This year, cloud-native networks will help DevOps teams by having switch infrastructures that interact with a cloud-based GUI to better support ap- plications that have proliferated almost everywhere in modern enterprises, espe- cially in containers or as micro-services,” Chacko says. TRANSPARENCY AND TRACEABILITY The evolution of technology is creating a trust crisis. As consumers become more aware of how their data is being collected and used, organisations are also recog- nising the increasing liability of storing and gathering the data. Additionally, AI and ML are increas- ingly used to make decisions in place of humans, evolving the trust crisis and driving the need for ideas like explain- able AI and AI governance, Burke con- tends. “This trend requires a focus on six critical elements of trust: ethics, Autonomous things operate most effectively with a narrowly defined, well-scoped purpose.” BRIAN BURKE, GARTNER RESEARCH VP // INSIGHT / TECHNOLOGY TRENDS // JANUARY 2020 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 31// WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /of the network as in conventional IT roles, says Burke observes. In 2020, location services will con- tinue to advance and serve up more meaningful, personalised experiences to users, inviting them to engage with their environment like never before. No longer just about way- finding, location services will enable a new range of services based on proximity and prefer- ences, delivering value to both the provider and the user in the form of customised offers for the customer and consumer insights for the provider, says Chacko of Aruba. CLOUD Cloud connectivity will also become more seamless and ubiquitous this year. In 2020, organisations will increas- ingly leverage cloud-based services from branch offices to support mission-critical applications while reducing exposure to malicious users and other sources of cyberattacks, says Chacko. “Virtual gateways will better integrate with net- work services provided in public clouds are also among those with the highest risk of cyber-attacks. “In 2020, IT de- partments and organisations as a whole will need to implement a more proactive stance on compliance and understanding of these privileged accounts. The people with the most credentials and access, of- ten are not the most tuned in or compliant, due to lack of clear understanding or training resources provided by the company’s experts - their IT,” he explains. THE EDGE Edge computing is a topology where information processing and content collection and delivery are placed closer to the sources of the information, with the idea that keeping traffic local and distributed will reduce latency. This includes all the technology on the internet of things (IoT). 2020 will see the evolution of the ‘empowered edge’ which looks at how these devices are in- creasing and forming the foundations for smart spaces and move vital applications and services closer to the people and de- vices that use them. By 2023, there could be more than 20 times as many smart devices at the edge integrity, openness, accountability, com- petence and consistency,” he adds. Legislations, like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), are being enacted around the world, driving evolution and laying the ground rules for various organisations. Ganesan of ManageEngine says priv- ileged access management will become more complex as data breaches continue to spread. With the ever-changing IT landscape, those with privileged access credentials Privileged access management will become more complex as data breaches continue to spread.” RAJESH GANESAN, VICE PRESIDENT AT MANAGEENGINE 20X Edge devices versus conventional IT // INSIGHT / TECHNOLOGY TRENDS // WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /// 32 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / JANUARY 2020 /to greatly simplify and accelerate this trend. New SD-WAN features will enable IT to better monitor and manage applica- tions from public cloud infrastructures,” he adds. Distributed cloud refers to the dis- tribution of public cloud services to locations outside the cloud provider’s physical data centres, but which are still controlled by the provider. In a distributed cloud, the cloud provider is responsible for all aspects of cloud service architecture, delivery, opera- tions, governance and updates — the evolution from centralised public cloud to distributed public cloud ushers in a new era of cloud computing. Distributed cloud allows data cen- tres to be located anywhere. “This solves both technical issues like latency and also regulatory challenges like data sovereignty. It also offers the benefits of a public cloud service alongside the benefits of a private, local cloud,” Burke of Gartner says. BLOCKCHAIN Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger, an expanding chrono- logically ordered list of cryptographically signed, irrevocable trans- actional records shared by all participants in a network. Blockchain allows parties to trace assets back to their origin, which is beneficial for traditional assets but also paves the way for other uses such as tracing food-borne illnesses back to the original supplier. It also allows two or more parties who don’t know each other to safely interact in a digital en- vironment and exchange value without the need for a centralised authority. The complete blockchain model in- cludes five elements: a shared and dis- tributed ledger, immutable and tracea- ble ledger, encryption, tokenisation and a distributed public consensus mecha- nism. However, blockchain remains im- mature for enterprise deployments due to a range of technical issues, including poor scalability and interoperability. “Blockchain, which is already ap- pearing in experimental and small- scope projects, will be fully scalable by 2023,” says Burke. Enterprise blockchains today take a practical approach and implement only some of the elements of a complete blockchain by making the ledger inde- pendent of individual applications and participants and replicating the ledger across a distributed network to create an authoritative record of significant events. Everyone with permissioned access sees the same information, and integration is simplified by having a single shared blockchain. Consensus is handled through more traditional pri- vate models. In the future, true blockchain or “blockchain complete” will have the potential to transform industries, and eventually, the economy, as comple- mentary technologies such as AI and the IoT begin to in- tegrate alongside block- chain. This expands the type of participants to include machines, which will be able to exchange a variety of as- sets — from money to real estate. For example, a car would be able to negotiate in- surance prices directly with the insur- ance company based on data gathered by its sensors. WIRELESS Despite the fanfare, the introduction of Wi-Fi 6 this year was met with cautious optimism, with sceptics citing that the increased bandwidth enabled by Wi-Fi 6, though impressive, will not necessar- ily be put to use very soon. As a result of continued Wi-Fi 6 innovation, Aruba predicts that 2020 will usher in a new swath of Wi-Fi 6-enabled services that will deliver the performance, availability and quality of service that is promised by technologies such as 5G. “Wi-Fi 6 will be the preferred on-ramp to 5G for the majority of enterprise edge applica- tions,” says Chacko of Aruba. In conclusion, it is hard to grasp the scale of innovation with the dynamic nature of the tech industry and the pace at which changes are happening. How- ever, it is safe to agree that these trends will have a profound impact on people, industries and organisations. Wi-Fi 6 will be the preferred on-ramp to 5G for the majority of enterprise edge applications.” JACOB CHACKO, REGIONAL BUSINESS HEAD, MIDDLE EAST, SAUDI AND SOUTH AFRICA (MESA) AT HPE ARUBA 35B Number of IoT devices by end of the year // INSIGHT / TECHNOLOGY TRENDS // JANUARY 2020 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 33// WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /2020: THE YEAR IN CYBERSECURITY SECURITY EXPERTS LOOK AHEAD TO POTENTIAL SECURITY EXPERTS LOOK AHEAD TO POTENTIAL SECURITY HOTSPOTS THIS YEARSECURITY HOTSPOTS THIS YEAR // INSIGHT / 2020 SECURITY PREDICTIONS SUPPORTED BY // WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /// 34 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / JANUARY 2020 /rtificial intelli- gence is a double- edged sword in cybersecurity. On the one hand, it gives security teams an edge in cyber-defence while on the other, cyber- criminals are increasingly adopting this advanced technology to find new ways to target their victims. First, the good news. AI will make a positive and real impact in 2020 by streamlining cybersecurity processes. For example, SOAR (security orchestra- tion, automation, and response) uses AI to gather the human knowledge held by cybersecurity staff through NLP and al- lowing it to be reusable across the rest of the team. This approach provides the building blocks for automating what are typically high-volume, dull, repetitive tasks that no security expert likes doing, Greg Day, VP & CSO, EMEA at Palo Alto Networks observes. “It will also help ensure the right people with the right knowledge are engaged on any given project, to navigate cybersecurity’s latest complex challenges better,” he adds. Husni Hammoud, Managing Di- rector, ESET Middle East believes five major security concerns will evolve to become major cyber security threats including fake news, social engineering and targeted disinformation, security of smart cities, securing of digital trans- formation, weaponisation of machine learning and the ever-present security concern - data privacy. These security threats give power to the perpetrator or cybercriminal to indi- vidualise the messages sent to millions of people, all at the click of a mouse, Ham- moud observes. With more and more cities adopt- ing smart technology, it would put smart buildings and cities within reach of cy- bercriminals for them to aim at a specific target, Hammoud warns. “Many build- ing automation systems, sensors and IoT devices used in smart cities lack robust A authentication systems and protection systems, which can allow an attacker to take control of the equipment easily. “The problem is that many of these smart cities are not fully prepared to safely manage the large volumes of infor- mation produced by the systems, and an attacker could easily gain access to this information, adjust measurements, and make changes to services used in trans- portation, traffic, lighting, or other criti- cal infrastructure,” Hammoud says. Every business is moving towards digital transformation hence the need to make sure they support changes in IT with changes in cybersecurity manage- ment to secure their digital transforma- tion journey, says Hammoud. This is be- cause any compromise in cybersecurity can upset the entire transformation pro- cess, he adds. Using machine learning for adversar- ial attacks will offer a new dimension to the cyberworld, Hammoud says. “ML or even AI-based malware might offer new and unique attack vectors, which will be more powerful than what we are cur- rently used to. It is becoming clear that ML will be an important component in the future battle,” he says. Privacy will continue to be a big con- cern, especially since there has been no respite to users from data breaches over the years. “With every passing year, data breaches are becoming bigger and big- ger and no amount of (preventive) ac- tions taken so far has hindered anyone,” Hammoud says. A classic case of a data breach was the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which data scientists were able to transform surveys and Facebook social graph data into a political messaging weapon via psychographic profiling. It is likely deep fakes could speed up such transforma- tions in influencing the public during elections, Hammoud observes. CLOUD The growing popularity of cloud and DevOps environments drive business agility while exposing organisations to third-party risk. Attackers will increas- ingly go after corporate data stored in the cloud via code injection attacks such as deserialisation bugs, cross-site scripting and SQL injection. They will either target cloud provid- ers directly or compromise third-party libraries to do this. With more and more cities adopting smart technology, it would put smart buildings and cities within reach of cybercriminals.” HUSNI HAMMOUD, MANAGING DIRECTOR, ESET MIDDLE EAST SUPPORTED BY// INSIGHT / 2020 SECURITY PREDICTIONS // JANUARY 2020 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 35// WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /financial gains and a significant operat- ing metric for them revolves around their operational costs. Very similar to organi- sations’ defensive budgets, adversaries must weigh their operating costs against their potential profits. Therefore, their motivation to gain access to cloud envi- ronments provides an exponential finan- cial gain, Trost says. “Security teams must evaluate and scrutinise cloud security practices to en- sure due diligence is being performed by the vendor - for instance, ensuring the cloud vendor is undergoing routine pen- etration tests and not only resolving any weaknesses identified but how quickly is their security team identifying the pen- etration test,” Trost says. FINANCIAL INDUSTRY Security experts consider financial cy- ber threats to be some of the most dan- gerous, as the impact they bring usually results in direct economic losses for vic- tims. 2019 saw some significant develop- ments in the industry and in how finan- cial attackers operate. According to researchers at Kasper- sky, financially motivated cyber threat actors may start to target investment apps, online financial data processing systems and upcoming cryptocurren- cies, along with providing paid access to banks’ infrastructures and developing new strains of mobile banking malware based on leaked source code in 2020. “Just as we predicted at the end of 2018, last year saw the emergence of new cybercriminal groups, like CopyPaste, a new geography of attacks by Silence group, cybercriminals shifting their focus onto data that helps to bypass an- tifraud systems in their attacks. Behav- ioural and biometrics data is also on sale on the underground market,” observes Yuriy Namestnikov, a security researcher at Kaspersky. Mobile investment apps have become more popular among users around the globe. This trend won’t go unnoticed by cybercriminals in 2020. Not all of these apps utilise best security practices, like practices to drive the digital innovation and growth they crave,” observes Dr. Moataz Bin Ali, vice president, Trend Mi- cro, Middle East and North Africa. “Our threat experts predict that this fast growth and change will bring new risks of supply chain attacks. From the cloud layer down to the home network, IT security leaders will need to reassess their cyber risk and protection strategy in 2020,” Dr. Bin Ali says. What was ‘cloud-first’ became ‘cloud appropriate,’ ‘hybrid cloud’ and ‘single cloud,’ which is now ‘multi-cloud.’ This perplexity will continue to provide com- plexity for security, Day warns. “Decisions will need to be made on what is taken as a service, what is done in- house, and most critically, how to do that consistently as cloud services become more specialised,” he says. Concurrently, we see the growth of edge computing, the ability to do that first-level data processing and aggrega- tion before sending it to the cloud – the logic being to reduce the latency, lag, and costs of data processing. “We have already seen examples of how these pro- cesses can be compromised in several ways; new capabilities generate new op- portunities for compromise, and where the opportunity is worth it, criminals will focus,” says Day. Ryan Trost, co-founder and CTO at ThreatQuotient, a threat intelligence platform, envisages a sharper concentra- tion of cloud attacks this year. Companies continue to flock to cloud deployments, both private and public, to regain budget and unburden their IT departments. Teams have slightly more control and oversight over private cloud deployments but the public multi-tenant cloud deploy- ments are target-rich for an attacker. “(There’s no) need for the adversary to enumerate their prey when they can in- filtrate the ‘entire herd.’ By studying how a single cloud technology operates from infrastructure to defences, adversaries become more efficient and significantly decrease their attack costs,” says Trost. Most adversaries are driven by The increasing use of third-party code by organisations employing a DevOps cul- ture will increase business risk in 2020 and beyond. Compromised container components and libraries used in server- less and microservices architectures will further broaden the enterprise attack surface, as traditional security practices struggle to keep up. “As we enter a new decade, organi- sations of all industries and sizes will increasingly rely on third-party soft- ware, open-source, and modern working Our threat experts predict that this fast growth and change will bring new risks of supply chain attacks.” DR. MOATAZ BIN ALI, VICE PRESIDENT, TREND MICRO, MENA // INSIGHT / 2020 SECURITY PREDICTIONS SUPPORTED BY // WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /// 36 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / JANUARY 2020 /multi-factor authentication or protection of the app connection, which may give cybercriminals a potential way to target users of such applications In 2020, Kaspersky experts expect an increase in the activity of groups specialised in the criminal-to-criminal sale of network access to banks in the African and Asian regions, as well as in Eastern Europe. Their prime targets are small banks, as well as financial organi- sations recently bought by big players who are rebuilding their cybersecurity system per the standards of their parent companies. Besides, it is expected that the same banks may become victims of targeted ransomware attacks, as banks are among those organizations that are more likely to pay a ransom than accept the loss of data. This year, we recommend security teams in potentially affected areas of the finance industry to gear up for new chal- lenges. There is nothing inevitable in po- tential upcoming threats; it is just impor- tant to be properly prepared for them,” says Namestnikov. IOT Trost of ThreatQuotient predicts there will be a surge of botnet armies in 2020. Botnet armies are nothing new; however, as endpoint devices in households become “con- nected” and schools provide each student with personal com- puting devices, it opens the doors for widespread takeover. “As with any botnet army, the indi- vidual devices don’t hold any real threat value, but when controlled in the masses, they provide a formidable attack mecha- nism for cybercriminals. Whether used for computation resources (think brute- forcing passwords) or used to launch denial of service attacks against a target, the volume of botnet armies will surely increase exponentially,” Trost warns. Operational technology networks are the primary life source for oil, gas and energy companies, as well as mas- sive manufacturing industries such as automotive. These environments typi- cally rely heavily on older infrastructure and technology and are infrequently up- dated to the latest security levels. Often, OT networks are overlooked because they don’t have the traditional weak points most organisations are defend- ing, Trost observes. “As manufacturers live and die by product branding, the importance of a company to comply with criminal de- mands warrants a lofty ransom threat. I predict 2020 will see at least one high- value OT network get infiltrated and held for ransom,” he warns. To keep their systems safe, organi- sations must lay down a comprehensive roadmap for cybersecurity and they need to find a balance between the implemen- tation of new technology and cybersecu- rity, Hammoud says. “Another important area would be to foster greater collabo- ration between people and processes so that they are aligned, and decision mak- ing is based on shared data generated from the technology that has been implemented,” Ham- moud adds. “Similarly, if we take as points of reference the current advances in the beneficial use of machine learning, the phenomenon of fake news, and what we can expect from a still distant future in which artificial intelli- gence has been developed, the challenge of being prepared for what is to come could provide us with the opportunity to take measures that give cybersecurity more of a leading role,” Hammoud says. ESET’s range of products can help organisations get a grip over the escalat- ing threats. “Over 30 years of security intelligence is at work actively protect- ing users worldwide and the latest edi- tion ESET products and solutions are powered by the most advanced technol- ogies, which provide enhanced protec- tion, multiplatform compatibility and a new layer of machine learning detec- tion,” says Hammoud of ESET. The predictions our experts have made here take inspiration from what we have seen in the past few years as well as trends in the broader network industry (see the separate feature on our IT pre- dictions). However, as we have seen every year, expect some nasty surprises. And so the most significant forecast of all, be prepared for anything. $45B Estimated cost of cybercrime in 2018 “Individual devices don’t hold any real threat value, but when controlled in the masses, they provide a formidable attack mechanism.” RYAN TROST, CO-FOUNDER AND CTO AT THREATQUOTIENT SUPPORTED BY// INSIGHT / 2020 SECURITY PREDICTIONS // JANUARY 2020 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 37// WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /The EnGenius Cloud Managed ECW220 Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) 2x2 indoor wireless access point fea- tures 802.11ax technology, such as OFDMA, MU- MIMO, and spatial reuse, to expand the capabilities of Wi-Fi. The low-profile AP consumes less power & provides maximum speeds of 574 Mbps (2.4 GHz frequency) and 1,200 Mbps (5 GHz frequency). With EnGenius Cloud’s plug-and-play installation, admin- istrators can deploy EnGenius Cloud quickly with no lengthy setup or complex integration required. 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ZCentral combines Z by HP racked high-performance workstations, a new gen- eration ZCentral Remote Boost software – formerly known as Remote Graphics Software (RGS) – and new proprietary ZCentral Con- nect software to accelerate high compute workflows to the next level. Who needs the product? ZCentral equips IT depart- ments with predictable and dedicated remote perfor- mance, independent of the endpoint device, and a simple way to securely man- age those connections. The financial impact of a data breach can be significant to a company with an average cost of $3.6 million in 2018. ZCentral can reduce the challenges and costs as- sociated with managing vari- ous platforms and devices while offering secure remote access to users. ZCentral offers 16%-33% higher performance, at 59%-72% of the price of today’s virtual- ised workstations ZCentral caters to various industries, including AEC, data science, media and entertainment, and oil and gas, among others. What benefits does it of- fer targeted customers? In today’s remote office environments, creators, animators, researchers and product developers, among other professionals, are working in various locations more frequently to increase collaboration, creativity, productivity and efficiency. However, power users ac- cessing large files for these complex workflows, while syncing over the network, is costly and time-intensive. HP is innovating in two areas to deliver effective enterprise- ready remote computing solutions: predictable and dedicated remote worksta- tion performance independ- ent of the OS (macOS, Windows, Linux) and the shift to ultra-flexible IT. SELLING POWER Antonio Neri, president and CEO, HPE SELL IT TO ME HP ZCentral remote workstation What is the product? HPE GreenLake Central is a software platform that provides cus- tomers with a consistent cloud experience for all their applications and data, through an operational console that runs, manages and optimises their entire hybrid IT estate. Why is it important? Despite the promise of the cloud to speed delivery of new applica- tions, organisations’ digital transformation efforts have become more sophisticated, costly, and slow-moving. To add to these challenges, most of today’s applications and data remain in the data centre and are growing exponentially at the edge. As a result, organisations have been dealing with a siloed, inconsistent experience across their hybrid estate, and lack control and visibility into the costs and risks across their enterprise. Why is it different? HPE GreenLake Central allows customers to break through these challenges by delivering a single, integrated management control plane for their entire hybrid IT estate, and one operational console from which to direct and drive their digital transformation initiatives – all delivered as-a-Service. // PRODUCT WATCH / // JANUARY 2020 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 39// WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /Next >