Harnessing AI for Cyber Defense & Redefining Cybersecurity’s Next Frontier

In the interview with Dr. Ahmed Rubaie, Chief Executive Officer at Anomali, he discusses with the Integrator Anomali’s expansion strategy in the Middle East, latest innovation, and cybersecurity challenges that come their way.

1. Can you give us an overview of Anomali’s background, its journey, and the key activities it’s been involved in?

Anomali has been an innovator in the cybersecurity domain for over 10 years. Centered around an omnipresent and intelligent Anomali Copilot that automates important tasks and seamlessly reports to management in seconds, Anomali’s first-in-class offering of a comprehensive AI-powered Security Operations Platform that includes SIEM, SOAR, UEBA, TIP, and ETL capabilities is a natural evolution from its earliest days. Combining the expertise of its President, Hugh Njemanze, the inventor of SIEM, and its market-leading position providing the world’s largest threat repository – Anomali has driven advancements including fully embedding cybersecurity-tuned large language models across an integrated cloud-native platform that doesn’t require an external data lake, leading to scalability and performance unmatched by more traditional players. 

Utilizing natural language to address threats not only dramatically increases our customers’ ability to address security risks in a timely fashion, but also helps retain key security talent. All of this is critical as cybersecurity threat is evolving every day, and Anomali is a key partner in revolutionizing security management for customers – recently unveiling its Leading AI-Powered Security Operations Platform that is modernizing security operations. 

2. How has Anomali transformed security operations for major enterprise clients worldwide, and what sets its approach apart?

Anomali is helping some of the largest enterprise customers in the world by consolidating and replacing their full stack of legacy cybersecurity technology. Anomali recently helped a global financial institution install Anomali Copilot and replace its legacy visibility tool set (ETL, SIEM, etc.) with a cloud-native Security Analytics solution while reducing cost from ~$10M to ~$5M per annum. Together with progressive global customers, Anomali is revolutionizing a different way of managing security while helping better retain key security talent.

3. Could you elaborate on Anomali’s expansion strategy in the Middle East, particularly its efforts in the UAE and KSA?

With the UAE’s and KSA’s geopolitical significance and swift digital transformation, there’s an urgent need for advanced security measures in these regions. Anomali’s continued investment in Saudi Arabia and the UAE is a proactive step towards fortifying critical infrastructure, businesses, and individuals against escalating cybersecurity risks. Given Anomali’s cloud-native DNA, the company is well-positioned to help customers throughout this region in their cloud migration journeys and plans to invest accordingly.

4. What can you tell us about Anomali’s latest innovation in security analytics solutions, and how does it aim to address current cybersecurity challenges?

Anomali’s recently launched Security Operations Platform has modernized and consolidated the delivery of legacy Security Analytics solutions, including ETL, SIEM, XDR, SOAR, and TIP into one integrated solution at a fraction of the cost. The platform enables CIOs and CISOs to achieve actioned visibility while reducing security incidents and event data storage costs. As the threat continues to evolve rapidly, Anomali has also introduced a production-level AI capability into its solution, Anomali Copilot, which automates and frees up more than 50% of security analysts’ day – delivering more meaningful productivity to help build and retain better talent, while significantly accelerating performance on searches (petabytes of data in minutes). 

5. Looking ahead, what technological trends do you anticipate in the next decade, and how does Anomali plan to equip organizations to safeguard their businesses effectively amidst these changes?

AI and machine learning will continue to play an expanding role in both cyber-attacks and threat detection/visibility. While cybercriminals are increasingly leveraging AI to carry out advanced attacks on networks and individuals, organizations will be employing AI tools in lockstep to transform threat detection and response. Anomali will continue to evolve alongside threat, providing the most advanced AI-powered solutions to transform visibility and detect and remediate threats faster.