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Securing the Digital Frontier: Rubrik’s Vision for Middle East Cybersecurity

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Exclusive Interview with Robert Standing, Regional Vice President, Middle East, Africa & Eastern Europe at Rubrik

Q. With AI being a central theme at GITEX 2024, how does Rubrik integrate AI capabilities into its Security Cloud to enhance data protection and threat detection?

At Rubrik, we’ve recognized that AI is not just a buzzword but a powerful tool for enhancing data protection and cyber resilience. Our Rubrik Security Cloud leverages AI to provide advanced threat detection and data recovery solutions. Specifically, our machine learning algorithms analyze backup snapshots for abnormalities, which helps us detect unusual activity and potential threats before they become serious incidents. We recently introduced Ruby, our generative AI companion for Rubrik Security Cloud, which is designed to accelerate cyber detection, recovery, and resilience.

Traditionally, IT or security operations professionals spend countless hours and much back-and-forth with internal teams to complete these investigations. Ruby aims to streamline this process with a guided and conversational workflow, significantly reducing the time needed to resolve issues. Leveraging Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI and our machine learning-based Data Threat Engine, Ruby assists users in detecting, investigating, and remediating cyber incidents more quickly and effectively. This capability is crucial in today’s environment, where AI-powered attack tools such as FraudGPT and WormGPT are emerging within the cybercrime underground, potentially resulting in more advanced ransomware attacks.

By providing comprehensive AI-driven cybersecurity solutions, we enhance organizational resilience while simultaneously contributing to the broader AI economy.

Q. With the rapid adoption of cloud solutions in the Middle East, how does Rubrik ensure seamless data protection across hybrid and multi-cloud environments?

The adoption of cloud solutions in the Middle East is on the rise, and it’s important for organizations to have strong protection across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Rubrik has been leading the way in providing seamless data protection, no matter the infrastructure. Our platform is designed with flexibility in mind, supporting SaaS, cloud-native, and on-premise deployments, making cloud a top priority.

At Rubrik, we’re committed to enhancing the protection and recovery of sensitive information through our cloud architecture and AI-powered solutions, especially as cyber threats continue to evolve. Our machine learning algorithms constantly analyze backup snapshots for any unusual activity, helping us spot potential threats before they grow into serious issues. We also utilize AI to enable quick recovery from attacks, so organizations can easily search for specific data points and restore them efficiently.

This integrated approach empowers businesses to safeguard their data across different environments without sacrificing control or security. By ensuring comprehensive data protection, we assist enterprises in staying resilient while they embrace their cloud transformation journeys. This is especially vital in the Middle East, where countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, are showing a strong commitment to cloud, AI technology, and digital transformation.

Q. What are Rubrik’s strategic priorities for the MENA region, and how do you see the cybersecurity landscape evolving in the coming years?

In the MENA region, our strategic priority is to enhance data security while empowering enterprises to build resilience against evolving cyber threats. As countries in the region are rapidly embracing digital transformation, we recognize that this growth also brings increased cyber risks. Our focus is on delivering AI-powered cybersecurity tools that effectively combat threats such as ransomware and data breaches. We anticipate that as more organizations in the region adopt cloud technologies, the demand for robust, AI-driven solutions will surge. Our commitment to the region includes investing in local talent and partnerships to tailor our offerings to the unique challenges faced by businesses in this market. We aim to be a long-term partner in their journey toward enhanced security and operational resilience.

Q. What insights can you share about the current cybersecurity landscape based on your observations at GITEX, particularly regarding emerging threats and trends?

GITEX 2024 has highlighted a significant shift in the cybersecurity landscape, particularly with AI’s dual role in facilitating attacks and enhancing defenses. The increase of AI-driven cybercrime tools enables cybercriminals to execute increasingly sophisticated attacks, which presents a major challenge for security teams. At the same time, we’ve observed that organizations are prioritizing resilience alongside traditional security measures. This means not only focusing on preventing attacks but also ensuring they can recover quickly when incidents occur. At Rubrik, our solutions are designed to support this shift by emphasizing rapid detection and recovery capabilities, allowing businesses to minimize downtime and maintain continuity even amid cyber threats.

Q. GITEX emphasizes smart cities and digital infrastructure. How is Rubrik aligning its solutions to meet the secure and scalable data demands of these initiatives?

As smart cities continue to grow, especially in the Middle East, they’re generating a massive amount of data that needs to be both secure and easily accessible. There is great opportunity in how      our solutions can support these initiatives.

     We focus on zero trust principles to secure all types of data—whether it’s from enterprise systems, cloud applications, or SaaS platforms. This means we can help government agencies and smart city developers ensure that their data remains protected from cyber threats.

One of the key benefits we offer is our ability to safeguard sensitive government data. We provide air-gapped, immutable backups which helps ensure recovery      from ransomware and other malicious attacks. This way, cities can maintain their operations even in the face of cyber challenges. We also understand that speed is critical when it comes to recovery. Our platform continuously monitors for emerging threats, allowing us to quickly identify and address potential issues before they escalate. If something does happen, our solutions enable rapid restoration of affected applications or files, helping cities get back on track without missing a beat.

For example, the City of Las Vegas uses our technology to protect their smart city data while automating their IT operations. This not only enhances their efficiency but also improves the services they provide to citizens.

Overall, we’re committed to supporting the growth of smart cities by providing secure, scalable solutions that meet the highest standards of data protection. It’s all about ensuring these initiatives can thrive while keeping their data safe and accessible.

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New Rubrik Agent Cloud Accelerates Trusted Enterprise AI Agent Deployments

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New Rubrik Agent Cloud Accelerates Trusted Enterprise AI Agent Deployments

AI agents represent the biggest opportunity and the biggest threat to organizations everywhere. Rubrik, Inc., the Security and AI Operations Company, today announced the launch of the Rubrik Agent Cloud to accelerate enterprise AI agent adoption while managing risk of AI deployments.

AI transformation is now mandatory for most organizations. However, IT leaders are constrained because Agentic AI has significant risks including hallucination as well as compromise by threat actors. Rubrik Agent Cloud is designed to monitor and audit agentic actions, enforce real-time guardrails for agentic changes, fine-tune agents for accuracy and, finally, undo agent mistakes. Built on the Rubrik Platform that uniquely combines data, identity and application contexts, Rubrik Agent Cloud gives customers security, accuracy, and efficiency as they transform their organizations into AI enterprises.

“IT and security leaders often don’t know what their AI agents are doing or how to undo their mistakes. Rubrik wants to help them answer: ‘What agents do I have?’ ‘What are they capable of doing?’ ‘How are they performing?’ ‘What did they do?’ and ‘Can I undo that when they screw up?’ said Bipul Sinha, CEO, Chairman, and Co-Founder of Rubrik. “AI agents have the potential to cause 10x the damage in 1/10 of the time. With Rubrik Agent Cloud, we uniquely address this challenge by leveraging our leadership in data, identity, and resilience to help our customers deploy AI agents with peace of mind.”

Accelerate Enterprise AI Deployment and Resilience 

Rubrik Agent Cloud will offer comprehensive agent management capabilities that encompass the entire AI agent lifecycle – from observability and control to performance management and simulation. 

  • Agent Monitor:
    • Auto-discovers both infrastructure-as-a-service (Azure/AWS) agents as well as platform-as-a-service (M365/AgentForce) agents. 

○ Automatically discovers and maps active agents across popular agent builders such as OpenAI, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Amazon Bedrock and other popular agent building tools. 

○ Continuously monitors agent activity and data access, and maintains immutable audit trails capturing context from data, identity, and applications. 

  • Agent Govern:
    • Tracks agent usage, evaluates performance against prompts, and gives teams the tools to control destructive/undesired actions.

○ Defines and enforces agent behavior, access, and action policies in real-time. 

○ A centralized tool to provide integration with enterprise identity systems—helping ensure secure, compliant, and controlled innovation.

  • Agent Remediate:
    • Announced in August 2025, Agent Rewind integrates with Rubrik Security Cloud to provide the industry’s only solution for precise time and blast radius rollback of undesirable or destructive actions.

○ Goes beyond observability to allow organizations to instantly undo unwanted or destructive actions, without any downtime or data loss. 

○ Selective rollback of agent-driven changes ensures continuous protection for critical data and systems, and immutable recovery.

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UAE’s AI market set to soar to Dh170 billion by 2030, driving MENA’s Dh610 billion Artificial Intelligence boom

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UAE’s AI market set to soar to Dh170 billion by 2030, driving MENA’s Dh610 billion Artificial Intelligence boom

The UAE’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) market is forecast to hit Dh170 billion (USD 46.33 billion) by 2030, according to new data from Grand View Research (GVR) in a study that underscores the country’s accelerating dominance in the region’s USD 166 billion (Dh610 billion) AI boom.

Close on the heels of the UAE unveiling its first Arabic-language AI model earlier this year, the new research by the California headquartered- firm reveals that the MENA AI market, valued at USD 11.92 billion (Dh43.7 billion) in 2023, is set to expand almost fifteen-fold to USD 166.33 billion (Dh610 billion) by 2030, growing at an annual rate of 44.8 percent.

“The Middle East, and especially the UAE, is no longer just an adopter of global AI technologies – it’s, in fact, shaping its own playbook,” said Swayam Dash, Managing Director at Grand View Research. “With sovereign funds backing innovation, and policies like the UAE’s new Strategic Plan 2031 leading the way with focus on utilising artificial intellegence in achieving greater financial efficiency for the federal government, the region is becoming a laboratory for how AI can drive both governance and growth.”

GVR’s report further highlights that nearly three in four UAE companies have maintained or increased their AI investments in the past year. Machine learning and deep learning remain the backbone of this transformation, particularly in healthcare, logistics, and financial services.

According to the report, the AI in Healthcare market in the Middle East and Africa, valued at USD 193.1 million (Dh 709 million) in 2023, is projected to reach USD 1.47 billion (Dh 5.39 billion) by 2030 growing at a CAGR of 33.6 per cent, while the region’s legal AI sector – currently at USD 43.3 million (Dh 159 million) – is expected to almost triple to USD 121.5 million (Dh 446 million) at a CAGR of 18 per cent over the same period.

“The release of region-specific AI metrics for the first time quantifies what many have sensed – that the UAE and its neighbours are at the tipping point of a generational transformation,” Dash added. “And the next wave of opportunity will come from specialisation. Sectors like healthcare and legal technology are still emerging here and hence the potential is immense. With the AI in regional healthcare market alone projected to touch USD 8.39 billion (AED 30.8 billion) by 2033, we’re looking at a decade of exponential growth. Likewise, the legal AI space, though currently small, represents a first-mover opportunity in digitising governance, compliance, and regulatory frameworks – areas where the Middle East can define its own benchmarks rather than follow global ones.”

The study also notes how the MENA region is further emerging stronger as one of the world’s most dynamic AI frontiers driven particularly by government-led digital transformation agendas, rapid urbanisation, and the rollout of AI-enabling technologies such as 5G, cloud, and IoT,

“Machine learning and deep learning continue to dominate adoption across smart-city initiatives, healthcare, and urban management ­– with the UAE leading the charge in real-world integration,” said Dash.

The full Grand View Research MENA AI Market Report offers an in-depth analysis of these evolving trends, uncovering how data, policy, and innovation are converging to redefine the region’s digital economy.

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FVC and SearchInform Join Forces to Boost Insider Threat Prevention and Data Protection in MENA

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FVC and SearchInform Join Forces to Boost Insider Threat Prevention and Data Protection in MENA

FVC, a prominent distributor specialising in innovative technology solutions, is pleased to announce its strategic partnership with SearchInform, a leader in information security and insider threat prevention solutions. Together, they are committed to strengthening organizations’ defenses against data leaks, corporate fraud, human-factor related risks.

K.S. Parag, Managing Director, FVC:

“We are excited to welcome SearchInform to our cybersecurity portfolio. The company offers the most powerful and localized DLP on the MENA market. SearchInform solution stands out from the competition due to a number of advantages. The system can be deployed within a few hours, protects the maximum number of data transfer channels, provides smart content-based blocking for all controlled channels and also use digital watermarks to trace the source of potential leaks. SearchInform DLP supports analysis of data in Arabic and has security policies, tailored for requirements of local organizations, enabling timely detection and prevention of confidential data leaks. The solution leverages AI to monitor atypical data transfer channels, recognize graphic elements, transcribe audio into text, detect attempts to photograph PC screens with smartphones.”

SearchInform offers a range of products, including DCAP, DLP, and SIEM. All the tools are seamlessly integrated. Technical support is provided through a specialist assigned to the company, who has extensive experience thanks to clients from various fields.

Commenting on the Partnership, Artem Volodin, CEO SearchInform MENA, stated:

“We are proud to collaborate with FVC, whose expertise in the Middle Eastern market will strengthen our efforts to combat insider threats and data leaks. The region needs a comprehensive solution that will enable organizations to meet regulatory standards, including SAMA, PDPL, DCC, ECC, UAE Information Assurance (IA) Regulation etc. and global ones, such as GDPR, PCI DSS. SearchInform delivers tools for data protection and risk mitigation across all levels: FileAuditor secures file systems, DLP covers workstations and human risks, Risk Monitor addresses corporate fraud, and SIEM protects IT infrastructure.”

The partners are currently conducting expert training, partner enablement sessions, and are also negotiating the implementation of SearchInform products in local companies.

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