< Previousdigital channels and with more per- sonalisation), and vishing (voice-based phishing via phone or messaging). Protecting from these advanced threats will require radically different approaches from the traditional de- fense-in-depth strategies that ‘layered’ on protections, one threat at a time, to the enterprise tech stack. insurance, among other options – you greatly lower the odds of falling victim to a cyber-attack. Cyber threats are lurking eve- rywhere. Which is why it is rel- evant to do everything you can to limit your organisation’s vulner- abilities. Through supply chain risk management, you can retain a strong network of trusted ven- dors while securing your end-to- end supply chain. This strengthens your organisation’s physical secu- rity and helps protect against po- tential cyber-attacks. With cybercrime harms expected to charge the world $6 trillion an- nually by 2021, this growing issue shouldn’t be dealt with lightly. Threat actors resume to enhance new methods to attack organisa- tions, though less than 50% of com- panies are prepared for a cyberse- curity attack. That’s where cyber hygiene comes in. By maintaining the se- curity and upkeep of your organi- sation’s programmes, devices, sys- tems and processes – whether that’s through safe corporate communi- cation or purchasing cyber liability I would say it is the inversion of the corporate network. Previously, eve- rything truly important was kept on- premise and a small number of holes were poked into the protective fabric to allow outbound communications. 2021 is the year where de-perimeter- isation of the network — which has been long predicted — finally happens and does so with a vengeance. The leading indicator for this is companies who are ditching AD (on-premise leg- acy architecture) and moving all their identities to Azure AD (modern cloud- enabled technology). Security threats tend to be more evolu- tionary and less revolutionary — there- fore, the next ‘big thing’ may simply consist of improvements to what we currently see in front of us. Top con- tenders include video manipulation (so-called ‘deep fakes’) and improved impersonations (imperceptible to the untrained eye), increasingly sophisti- cated phishing attacks (across multiple interconnectivity - some for legiti- mate reasons while others will have nefarious purposes. The sheer speed and reach of 5G will connect busi- nesses beyond recognition, but that could be a dangerous combination in terms of a successful cyber-attack. RADICAL APPROACH TO TRADITIONAL DEFENSE-IN- DEPTH STRATEGIES CYBER HYGIENE WILL TAKE PRECEDENCE INVERSION OF THE CORPORATE NETWORKGabe Goldhirsh, VP, MEA/APAC Sales, ZeroFOX Ephrem Tesfai, sales engineering manager META, Genetec Oliver Tavakoli, chief technology officer, Vectra I believe there will be a greater adoption of more automation in cybersecurity and response. The frequency and effectiveness of at- tacks, from malware to nation-state attacks, has shown the inadequacy of depending solely on human in- tervention. Machine speed attacks need machine speed responses. In 2021 it won’t be just about business resilience, but human re- silience as well. New leadership styles must emerge to communi- cate, collaborate and operate in increasing complex and unchar- tered environments. For technol- og y leaders, this is the opportu- nity to move away from outdated, legacy protection schemes and adopt bolder and more effective AI-based solutions. AUTOMATION IN CYBERSECURITY AND RESPONSE Morgan Wright, chief security advisor, SentinelOne // FEATURE / THE NEXT BIG THING // WWW.ITP.NET/// 30 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / DECEMBER 2020 /e all have heard or read the phrase ‘...attack would have been milder if high- ly secure cloud services had been used…’ before. Especially when an organisation has been hit by ransomware recently, has probably suffered data loss and downtime and wants to get back to business as soon as possible. What does it mean exactly? The answer to the problem typi- cally isn’t on-premise or cloud infra- structure but rather lack of security hygiene and a failure in defences. More often than not it’s the inability for organisations to maintain security fundamentals (e.g., patch manage- ment, technology stack configuration, security coding practices, etc.) that provide a foothold for the adversary. Whether a technolog y is on-prem- ise or somewhere in the cloud has no bearing on the adversary’s ability to execute a ransomware attack. The two are not mutually exclusive. In ac- tuality, organisations hastily moving data into the cloud actually increases the likelihood of future intrusions because it introduces another attack landscape to the organisation - one that is massive. Cloud architectures and configu- rations are complex and are prone to mis-configurations and human error. Also, many cloud providers have their list of defences and won’t deviate from it, so it forces organi- sations to comply or go elsewhere. The change of security technologies introduces new issues to organisa- tions to consider. It’s even harder to W HELD HOSTAGE? HERE’S WHAT YOU SHOULD DO properly assess and resolve if a company’s manage- ment team is pressuring them for “overnight” tran- sitioning from on-prem to cloud. TEAMS MOVING INTO THE CLOUD NEED TO: 1. Truly assess the pros and cons 2. Evaluate the various cloud providers/host- ing companies over several months rather than days 3. Assess the cloud pro- viders policies and procedures; especial- ly when it comes to backups, configura- tion changes, and se- curity procedures when their in- ternal employees leave the cloud provider 4. Implement an agile transition; meaning it should be a ‘slow’ and multiple release transition instead of a “f lip of the switch... lights on” transition. I think it’s pretty easy to say that any attack would have been milder if highly secure systems had been used. Security hygiene just references and security basics - maturing technology stack, maintain patch management ef- forts, keep rules/signatures updated, encrypt the necessary data, test back- up procedures quarterly, etc. Ransomware is one form of ad- versary objective and regardless the adversary needs to tunnel their way into the organisation. Compa- nies need to stay vigilant, especially during the pandemic. COVID is put- ting a financial strain on people and ransomware attacks are largely fi- nancially motivating attacks with quick and relatively easy to orches- trate. Sophisticated cyber criminals will target larger companies with a larger buyout, whereas, less sophisti- cated cyber criminals can just as eas- ily target residential users in order to syphon hundreds of dollars depend- ing on the value of the files encrypt- ed (e.g. family photos [irreplaceable], financial files, etc.) From a TQ perspective - compa- nies need to stay updated on threat intelligence and streamline those IOCs and signatures into their de- fensive technolog y stack as quickly as possible to try and block or detect malicious activity before the adver- sary has time to ransom their files. ThreatQuotient CTO and co-founder, Ryan Trost, discusses what typically happens after a ransomeware attack and what should happen instead Ryan Trost, CTO and co-founder, ThreatQuotient. THREATQUOTIENT /OPINION // // DECEMBER 2020 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 31// WWW.ITP.NET/Building on its initiative ‘Redefining Finance for Good’, Finastra launched its debut CXO forum in the MEA region to enlighten the industry and its stakeholders on how the banking sector is evolving to navigate the challenges that rapid digitalisation has triggered. The discussion gleaned insights from the experiences and successes of industry leaders to understand how the ongoing evolution of traditional business models will define the future of finance. The panel was moderated by Finastra’s head of international, Wissam Khoury and the director of IDC Financial Insights, Thomas Zink, and included senior executives from ecosystem. To initiate such a conversa- tion, Finastra invited a distinguished panel of C-level executives to discuss the topics that matter to the financial services leaders today and understand what their priorities are as they pre- pare for the complexities and uncer- tainties of the future. Role of technology in adding stability in the banking industry Thomas Zink, director IDC Financial Insights kick-started the session with an engaging overview of how technol- ogy is enabling banks to regain pre- pandemic stability and face the conse- quences of the ongoing transformation in the years to come. Zink explained that the banking in- Future of banking Customer-centric digital collaboration some of the region’s most reputed banks and financial institutions. Although the pandemic has brought the future forward, it has also compounded existing challenges such as lower returns, tightening of margins, increased competition and an ever- growing set of regulatory demands. The good news is that the banks have realigned themselves to prioritise on achieving operational resiliency rather than focusing merely on cost control and return on investments. Banks are and will remain an inte- gral part of global economies. Such drastic changes in both outlook and strategies call for the industry to dis- cuss universal concerns and learn from the experience and successes in the Finastra hosted its first-ever CXO roundtable in the Middle East, initiating an engaging discussion on how fostering a customer-centric and collaborative culture is conducive to successful digital transformation of the banking sector // EVENT REPORT / FINASTRA // WWW.ITP.NET /// 32 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / DECEMBER 2020 /agenda. “While there were initial hiccups in terms of productivity, remote working was quickly adopted as the norm in the Middle East. The industry has also seen an uptake of a cloud-first strategy. This is reiterated by banks that have partnered with hyperscalers and cloud providers to enable both resiliency and cost- saving,” Misnik added. Sfikas also commended how the government has been forthcoming in supporting the local economy by enabling the postponing of loan obligations for extended periods of time. He also urged that the industry must focus on improving infrastructure and enabling digitalisation by directing customer-centric investments into capital and human resources. The mobile imperative for digital banks Spotlighting Bank ABC’s foray into the digital, mobile-only banking space, Zink then explored how the bank’s digital strategy enabled it to offset the impact of the crisis, especially in comparison with a traditional bank. “The launch of ‘ila Bank’ is part of a series of digital initiatives by Bank ABC,” said Dr. Yousif Almas, group chief innovation officer, Bank ABC. “This is our first venture into retail banking, and from a business perspective, we aimed to make banking as easy as possible. More than 90% of the bank components were hosted on the cloud, making Bank dustry has adapted to the initial shock of the pandemic and reached a turning point where they must invest in tech- nologies that can help them transform sustainably to explore new business models. “While earlier the banks fo- cused on return on investments, they have now started moving into the next phase of transformation by looking into operational resiliency. The question remains, however: how does the bank build resiliency and the business mo- mentum that existed in the pre-Covid era? Also, what investments must they make to future-proof the business? Admittedly, agile transformation and customer engagement are key areas that CIOs are focusing on, especially as banks move away from selling only traditional products. “Banks are evolving to become trusted advisors and service providers to the customers, helping them achieve business outcomes and facilitate the challenges in managing financial needs,” he added. Securing methodologies and the future of remote banking Zink first tackled the important topic of how this crisis has changed transformation priorities in the banking sector. Turning to Yuri Misnik, group chief technology officer, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Nikolaos Sfikas, group chief information officer, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), Zink inquired what the roadmap for digital transformation looks like and how banks in the region have adapted to the new normal. While Covid-19 accelerated the implementation of projects that were already in the pipeline, it has also tested remote support capabilities of organisations around the globe. Explaining how NBK responded to the crisis, Sfikas said: “NBK managed to maintain business continuity by distributing its critical staff to different locations and enabling financial Thomas Zink, director IDC Financial. Yuri Misnik, group chief technology officer, First Abu Dhabi Bank. Nikolaos Sfikas, group chief information officer, National Bank of Kuwait. Dr. Yousif Almas, group chief innovation officer, Bank ABC. transactions remotely. However, the key to successful transformation lies in effective collaboration through digital platforms and dealing with the accompanying risks. This means intensifying security measures and providing uninterrupted services must be an important part of any bank’s digitalisation strategy.” Misnik reiterated that while most banks had been undergoing some form of digitalisation over the past few years, it was the shift in focus that was the primary outcome of the pandemic. Banks have now shifted their energies on implementing different digital channels and adopting new technologies to further their digital FINASTRA / EVENT REPORT // // DECEMBER 2020 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 33// WWW.ITP.NET /ABC the first cloud-first bank in the Middle East and Africa.” Discussing how this initiative benefitted the bank’s customers, Dr. Almas added: “One key capability that we focused on was redefining the client onboarding process. We streamlined it so that onboarding could be done completely from the phone, allowing instant access to bank accounts with the facility to avail virtual debit cards.” “Just 3-4 months into the launch the no-touch economy became a neces- sity, and Bank ABC became a problem solver overnight. Being in the cloud, we were able to scale our capabilities and resources with ease and efficiency,” he explained. Collaboration is vital for successful digitalisation Despite all the transformation in the industry, there remains uncertainty in the market. Zink then turned to Nada Awad Rizkallah, deputy general beyond the digitalisation of operations to maintain business continuity. In such a situation, the main priority should be to restore customer confidence and recapitalise the banks, especially due to the ongoing defaults, liquidity and budget constraints.” Rizkallah highlighted that despite the challenges, banks will always remain an essential part of the economy. “What remains is the need for banks and FinTechs to collaborate to achieve operational efficiency. Traditionally, several banks have been slow in managing their risk and compliance processes, and partnering with Fintechs will allow banks to undergo speedy digitalisation with minimum investment.” However, Rizkallah stressed the need for banks to rethink their business models to keep up with the advances in technology and customer requirements. “While collaborating with FinTechs will be mutually beneficial, banks will have to up their game and rethink not just regulations but also their business models. Such evolution will finally lead to a change in the culture within the organisation, thereby redefining employee experience as well.” Innovation comes from collaboration Finally, Wissam Khoury, head of International, Finastra summed up the discussion by highlighting the challenges in different markets and how banks are elevating themselves to meet the demands of a tough market. Khoury began by explaining the key problems faced by customers today. “Customer expectation is the biggest worry for financial institutions these days because the customer’s behaviour has changed, especially in post-Covid times. Another problem is managing the total cost of ownership or operational efficiency. Further, most financial institutions are pressurised by shrinking revenues, tighter margins and interest rates.” Nada Awad Rizkallah, Deputy General Manager & Head of Risk, Credit Libanais. Wissam Khoury, head of International, Finastra. manager & head of Risk, Credit Libanais to understand what the ideal plan of action or strategy would look like in such market conditions. Rizkallah explained that the pandemic compounded the challenges that Lebanon had been facing. “This meant adopting a wider approach to digital transformation that goes He went on to explain what banks can do to fend these challenges. Khoury said: “In these rapidly changing times, what worked last year in terms of solutions offered to the market might not work this year. The solution lies in adopting the right technologies. The first one would be cloud - digital banking which is based on a cloud infrastructure. This will give banks a cost-effective way to offer their services to customers regardless of where they are and improve operational efficiency. Further, banks will have the flexibility and agility to respond to customer demands by expanding their capacity and adding new services very quickly.” “Nobody can cannibalise innovation,” said Khoury. “Innovation does not only come from within, or even from one FinTech provider. Financial institutions need to invest in technology and that is the true enabler for innovation.” “Banks in this region are already investing in open banking and open APIs. By partnering with FinTechs, and platforms for open innovation like FusionFabric.cloud, banks will be able to offer unique services that can enhance customer experience. Such collaboration can also enable banks to capitalise on the latest technologies that these small FinTechs are using,” concluded Khoury. // EVENT REPORT / FINASTRA // WWW.ITP.NET /// 34 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / DECEMBER 2020 /t’s fair to say that 2020 has been a challenging year. For security leaders, the pandemic has creat- ed many professional challenges for adapting to security in this unique work environment. How will the events this year affect cybersecurity practices in 2021? Below are a few areas that will continue to evolve and rapidly change in 2021: Remote workforce security will increase the focus on cloud security One of the biggest challenges for secu- rity leaders in 2020 was the sudden change to remote working practices. Organisa- tions of all sizes enabled remote work for a large percentage of the workforce, in some cases for the first time. Often this was done with just a few days’ notice. Managing a remote workforce can be challenging, as it expands and distributes the attack surface across new geographies and new devices. Organisations needed to adapt to more cloud-focused security practices, processes, and policies. This in- cluded managing a significant increase of new devices and assets that are now con- nected to their corporate networks. As we move into a new year, it’s im- perative that organisations reflect on re- cent changes to identify introduced risks that must be addressed before they can be exploited by threat actors. Effective risk- based vulnerability management success in the cloud relies on the ability to discover every asset and to assess, prioritise, reme- diate, and measure all vulnerabilities effec- tively whether on premises or in the cloud. Increased focus on OT/ IT convergence and security IT and operational technology (OT) teams must collaborate to eliminate the I CYBERSECURITY THREAT PREDICTIONS substantial risk of IT/OT convergence. The challenge is that both IT and OT in- frastructures have normally inhabited completely different worlds. However, modern attacks commonly travel across both the traditional IT and OT security borders. We’ve already seen significant attacks targeting OT and this trend will only increase in 2021. Organisations need to gain a holistic view of both IT and OT environments to illuminate potential attack vectors and eliminate asset blind spots. 5G security issues The promise of 5G has been discussed for many years, but the technology has never been closer to reality. As 5G net- works continue to be implemented, one concern for security leaders is the vast amount of data that can be transferred easily and quickly over unsecure con- nections. A further concern is the vast array of devices that will be enabled by 5G - from internet of things (IoT), OT to In- dustrial IoT (IIoT). Gaining visibility of these assets is going to be a challenge, plus managing the abundance of new and emerging threats to these devices. It is imperative that all parties work to- gether - users and service providers, to build an ecosystem of trust, awareness, and security. Measurement of value and risk reduction in security will continue to rise in 2021 against generic capacity building Communicating cyber risk in a lan- guage that non-technical business lead- ers can understand is challenging. Just four out of 10 security leaders say they can answer the question, “How secure, or at risk, are we?” with a high level of confidence. There’s a disconnect in how business understands and manages cy- ber risk. Cybersecurity is seldom fully integrated into business strategy and analysing cyber risks and predicting their business impact is a challenge. A recent commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting, on behalf of Tenable, found fewer than 50% of se- curity leaders said they are framing cy- bersecurity threats within the context of a specific business risk. When security and business leaders are aligned around agreed-upon busi- ness risk data, they deliver significant, demonstrable results. According to the study, the business-aligned security leader is eight times as likely as their more siloed peers to be highly confident in their ability to report on their organi- sations’ level of security or risk. In 2021, business and security must lockarms on every strategic decision the organi- sation makes to prevent the security headlines of 2020 being repeated. Adam Palmer, chief cybersecurity strategist, Tenable, examines the threats that the coming year may present and how they will differ from what we see today Adam Palmer, chief cybersecurity strategist, Tenable. TENABLE / ANALYSIS // // DECEMBER 2020 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 35// WWW.ITP.NET/ver the past five dec- ades, Entrust Datacard became one of the most trusted brands in iden- tity management, pay- ments, and data protection. The com- pany offers a diverse portfolio software and hardware products ranging from credential issuance to identity and data protection, digital certificates and sign- ing solutions and more. The card issuance-focused side of the business, Datacard Corporation was founded in 1969. In 2013, the company acquired digital identities and informa- tion security firm Entrust. The names were merged, and the combined com- pany has operated as Entrust Datacard until now. Over the years, the company has gone from strength-to-strength with $800 million in annual revenue and over 2,500 employees under its wing. It now operates in more than 150 coun- tries through 50 offices and a global net- work of more than 1,000 technology and channel partners. In September, it was announced that Entrust Datacard will be rebranded with a new identity and company name, elim- inating ‘Datacard’ and shortening it to simply ‘Entrust.’ According to the com- pany, the move is aimed at highlighting its increasing focus on developing digital security solutions and more accurately reflects its vision for the future. “Our rebranding from Entrust Da- tacard to Entrust reflects 50 years of commitment to innovation and securing trust in a digitally transforming world. O Kieran Hernon, regional vice president, Entrust EMEA. We started with inventing our first high-speed credit card personalisation system and now we are a global leader in digital security providing a breadth of solutions, including credential issuance, identity and data protection, digital certificates and signing solutions,” says Kieran Hernon, regional vice president, Entrust EMEA. He added, “As we look ahead and continue to invest and innovate in the fu- ture, we have not forgotten our history, and our heritage is extremely valuable to us so, as a tribute, the Datacard name will continue to be featured prominently as the product brand for the company’s high-volume card issuance solutions.” The global digital identity solutions market is growing exponentially and is projected to grow from US$ 13.7 billion in 2019 and expected to reach US$30.5 billion by 2024, according to a report by intelligence and market research firm MarketsandMarkets. A primary driver behind this trend, according to the study, is the increased focus on enhanced customer experience. “We live in a world where digi- tal technologies have infiltrated every aspect of our lives. Governments are digitally transforming their cities to im- prove quality of life for their citizens, their economies for financial prosper- ity and businesses are digitising their strategies and products to offer more ef- ficient services,” explains Hernon. However, Hernon points out that while digital technologies have brought new opportunities and advantages, they have also exposed us to many threats. “Our identity and information constant- ly exposed, and is vulnerable to the risk of being stolen, hacked, or monitored by criminals. That’s why technologies that enable trust can change the world – so if we have access to high assurance technologies and secure connections that can protect our data and identities while at rest and in motion – we can reap the rewards of a digital revolution that improves the quality of life for us and future generations. The key is, ensur- ing optimum safety in our online world – only then can we secure people’s trust en-masse,” he says. Amid the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic, threat actors have found a new way to infiltrate corporate com- puter systems. They are targeting the devices of employees who are working In an exclusive interview, Kieran Hernon, regional vice president, Entrust EMEA, discusses the company’s brand revamp and why identity management and data protection solutions are key to securing the digital era. TRIED AND TRUSTED HOW ENTRUST IS DEVELOPING GAME-CHANGING TECH TO SECURE DIGITAL ENTERPRISES // INTERIEW / ENTRUST // WWW.ITP.NET/// 36 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / DECEMBER 2020 /remotely, using the pandemic and relat- ed anxiety to lure people into phishing schemes and malware attacks. “It is clear to all that working from home is becoming the new normal,” says Hernon. “To secure data amid ris- ing cyber-attacks, companies need to secure their employees’ identities. Em- ployees are the weakest link in a com- pany’s cybersecurity chain, hackers prey on their carelessness and oblivi- ousness and they serve as a gateway for company information and data.” Today, employees no longer need to physically sign into the office net- work under the supervision of the IT department and instead access data on the cloud from their home computers, increasing the attack surface for hack- ers. Moreover, the transition to remote working has opened a myriad of oppor- tunities for cybercriminals and cyber risks. In the UAE, 31% of organisations have experienced a cyber-attack in just the last three months. “To prevent cyber-attacks in our newfound world, we need to build resil- ient workspaces where companies are constantly mindful of potential cyber threats and ensure their employees are trained in the aspects of cybersecurity when saving and discarding their data,” says Hernon. According to Hernon, among the key technologies that will enable organisa- tions to protect their systems and data are Identity access and management (IAM) solutions. “It allows IT teams to assign a digital identity authorised by the office server to an employee, which will let them securely login through any device and access data,” he explains. “The most efficient IAM solution takes the employee through a multi-factor au- thentication using biometrics to confirm and authenticate employee identity. Us- ing biometrics as a multi-factor authen- tication increases security by making it harder for the hacker to access data even if the password has been compromised.” Tools focused on data encryption are also fundamental ensuring data protection. Employees send and receive emails containing company informa- tion daily. Often, they also upload com- pany data on removable devices or the cloud. Once this data leaves the organi- sation, it is no longer within the com- pany’s control. “To protect data even when it passes through other servers, it needs to be en- crypted,” says Hernon. “One such way to combat this is through Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), which is an ef- fective cryptosystem that authenticates any web server before connecting with it. It uses digital certificates and pub- lic encryption key pairs to encrypt and protect any data that employees upload online or receive and send via email.” He adds, “In today’s day and age where cybercriminals are getting smarter and utilising more and more sophisticated technologies, it is imperative that businesses go the extra mile and adapt the most robust data encryption methods. Our next- generation PKI platform gives maximum security at all times and encrypts data exchanges from anything between eCommerce transactions, to the emails you send within your organisation.” Looking ahead, Hernon believes that network safety systems, as well as strong digital controls and arrange- ments, should be prioritised to keep corporate systems secure. He also notes that data storage and protection strate- gies should be revised frequently. “Additionally, businesses should also look at shifting from passwords to digital identity authentication for employees as well as implementing a judicious cloud services management system,” he says. Furthermore, he highlights that directories of cloud utilisation within the organisation should also be meticulously maintained, alongside introducing information storing approaches and rationalising the utilisation of cloud service. “Although technological and digi- tal capabilities have kept numerous organisations above water during the pandemic, they have also made opera- tions unsafe and posed a threat to com- pany prosperity. The present situation and the post-pandemic world calls for transparent, secure and simple digital technologies that will keep global citi- zens, commerce and information mov- ing safely,” he says. ENTRUST / INTERVIEW // // DECEMBER 2020 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 37// WWW.ITP.NET/HAT IS THE ROLE OF TECH- NOLOGY IN EN- ABLING TRANS- FORMATION OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR? Digital transformation is not just about digitalisation, connectivity, going on- line, cost reduction, or improve the ROI. Digital transformation has to in- volve a lot more, such as redefining the mission, organisation, governance, pro- cess, and skillsets. For the public sector, the transformation is to improve effi- ciency of current services, to introduce new services under the current mis- sion, and to enhance the mission and offer new services. W The technology definitely plays a critical role in enabling transforma- tion of the public sector. We cannot talk about Industry Digital Transformation without various public sector ICT solu- tions, integrating technologies like 5G, Wi-Fi 6, AI and Cloud. Some examples from Huawei include the Converged Command Center that supports cross- agency collaboration and real-time vid- eo integration; the Smart Customs that allows single-window customs declara- tion and services; the Intelligent Traf- fic Management that automates the smooth flow of vehicular traffic; the Smart Education that enables blended and hybrid learning; and the Smart Healthcare that supports telemedicine. HOW DOES HUAWEI WORK WITH GLOBAL PARTNERS TO LAUNCH GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS? As a company’s open platform strategy, we work with partners globally to leverage their application software and systems integration capability, to provide the customers with end-to- end solutions. Let me share with you some examples: Safaricom: Enhancing Security in Kenya with Huawei’s Converged Com- mand & Control Solution Together with Safaricom - a lead- ing mobile network operator in Kenya, Huawei customised Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), Geographic Informa- tion System (GIS), incident handling Hong-Eng KOH, global chief government industry scientist, Huawei Enterprise Business Group discusses the ideal strategy to ensure efficient public service management in the post-pandemic world RAMPING UP PUBLIC SECTOR TRANSFORMATION // INTERIEW / HUAWEI // WWW.ITP.NET/// 38 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / DECEMBER 2020 /communications, telepresence, and broadband trunking solutions for Ken- yan government, to address shortcom- ings present in system previously used. With extensive system integration, these solutions significantly improved both emergency response efficiency and cross-departmental collaboration capa- bilities, involving the police, healthcare, firefighting, and civil administration de- partments, among others. Huawei Ankabut: Establishing the best education cloud in the UAE and Middle East Huawei partnered with Ankabut to establish the best education cloud in the UAE and the entire Middle East, making it accessible for universities and educational institutions. This achieve- ment has strengthened the country’s position as a regional leader in educa- tional services. Huawei and AGS jointly combat glob- al pandemic with AI Huawei and Advanced Global Solu- tion (AGS), an Italian-based enterprise, jointly launched an AI-based medi- cal image diagnosis system to super- charge the diagnosis and treatment for COVID-19. With this solution, it helps doctor quickly identify the symptoms of patients with COVID-19 within 2 to 3 minutes, and evaluates the treatment effect with an accuracy rate over 98%. HAS THE PANDEMIC MADE THE MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC SERVIC- ES MORE CHALLENGING? PLEASE ELABORATE. Definitely. Many of the public sector professionals are providing essential services during the pandemic, such as healthcare providers, first responders and municipal services. While keeping themselves safe, other public servants have to ensure people are following social distancing measures and other lockdown regulations. Working with the many service providers, the pub- lic sector has to ensure the high avail- ability of ICT infrastructure and plat- forms such as e-commerce and online learning, so that everyone can live, Hong-Eng KOH, global chief government industry scientist, Huawei Enterprise Business Group. study, work and even play from any- where safe. Government agencies have to deal with rise in crime, especially cyber- crime and online scam, and even social unrest as witnessed in some countries. We may see rise in illegal border cross- ing too since people will want to access to better healthcare and employment. Many cities also faced shortage of es- sential goods, from medical supplies to food. With more agencies adopt- ing cloud computing, even the busi- ness continuity management (BCM) of such services becomes a challenge. More companies are going bankrupt and unemployment rate rising. A ma- jor economic recession ahead of us is very likely. While digital transformation is not the silver bullet, I believe this pandemic is accelerating it to lighten, if not coun- ter, the impacts from some of the above challenges. To solve these chanllenges, the public sector can adopt more tech- nologies brought about by 5G, cloud and AI to improve collaboration, such as AR, VR, immersive reality, full multi- media user interface, and even robotics. Automation can increase efficiency and reduce physical contacts. The momen- tum to break down silos within the pub- lic sector has to speed up, a top down approach is needed for more secured information exchange so that the whole of government can provide people- and business-centric services. WHAT ARE THE KEY EMERGING TRENDS IN PUBLIC SERVICE IN 2021 AND BEYOND? Firstly, with the depth of digitalisation by the private sector, people and busi- nesses are increasingly expecting more from their public services. However, the public sector can sometimes be slowed down by various challenges such as budget, competing against the private sector for talents, and even business continuity management on critical sup- plies and services (as witnessed during the height of the pandemic). Secondly, this 2020 black swan event shows us volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) is becoming the norm. This is why not only the transformation of public ser- vices has to be people-centric, it has to be more agile. Just like traditional com- puting infrastructure has given way to service-oriented architecture (SOA), public services have to be delivered based on a service-oriented public sec- tor model, which allows the agile devel- opment of new services and refinement of current services to better meet the increasing expectations and under the VUCA operating environment. To realise a SOA style service- oriented public sector model, we need a technological platform such as Huawei’s ROMA hybrid integra- tion platform to integrate applica- tions, businesses, clouds and devic- es to eliminate data silos, allowing public sector agencies and trusted partners to explore ecosystem value, and bridging the physical and digital worlds. ROMA also offers common componenets to support agile devel- opment of services. HUAWEI / INTERVIEW // // DECEMBER 2020 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 39// WWW.ITP.NET/Next >