Mohamed Yousef is the Chapter President of the Middle East arm of (CS)²AI. He has 15+ years of experience in several mega critical infrastructure projects and operations in the middle east region – of which 11 years in GCC region, in several sectors such as Oil and Gas, Transportation, Government, and more.
As one of our advisory Steering Committee members for #CS4CA MENA, we caught up with Mohamed to learn more about him, his job and his predictions for the future of cyber security in the region.
Q. What gets you up in the morning?
Critical infrastructure cyber security is my passion and my work to the extent that in many cases I am not sleeping at nights, and hence don’t need to wake up next day :), but in the days which I need to wake up, then I wake up to see my kids before they go to school and then to go to office..
Q. How do you explain your job title to someone outside the cyber security industry?
It is the art of managing risks related to cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.
Q. What are some of the key recent shifts in the cybercrime threat landscape that you’ve been seeing, and what do you think they mean for cyber security?
With the increased integration of ICS/OT and IT networks, critical infrastructure cyber-related threats are becoming more common resulting in a huge challenge for cyber security. Since these threats are mostly nation-states who could intentionally harm the landscape, we require special skills to be able to protect against such cyber threats.
Unfortunately, there is huge gap in such skills and authorities not moving fast enough to cope with such challenges, and in some cases moving in the wrong direction.
Q. Is cybercrime evolving quicker than security?
Yes, and that is because cybersecurity is lacking productive collaboration, effective laws and regulation.
Q. What do the next 5 years hold for your industry?
More sophisticated challenges, innovation and more dependency on ML and AI on relevant products and more automated processes – lots of business opportunities.
Q. If you could change one thing about your work right now, what would it be?
I love my work right now, I don’t need to change anything 🙂
Q. What is the best or worst security advice you’ve ever heard?
The best advice I’ve heard is that security is not a product, it is also a process and people.
What’s your favourite way to stay informed about cyber security?
Meeting with cyber security professionals, attending relevant conferences, and registering in security related websites to receive newsletters.
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Learn more about CS4CA MENA 2020 and be sure to secure your discounted Early Bird delegate pass (save $250 before November 20th) to meet industry leaders like Mohamed this January in Dubai.
