KOC Info Security team host second annual Gartner Cyber-security event

Conference sees record attendance

Photos from the event

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 23: Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) hosted the 2nd Annual Gartner Cyber Security Event in the Ahmad Al-Jaber Exhibition Hall in Ahmadi. The KOC Corporate Information Technology Group, Information Security Team were the organizers of the event, led by Dr Reem Al-Shammary, who had conferred with Gartner to ensure the localization and applicability of the content.

The attendees were welcomed by Bader Al Attar Deputy CEO Planning and Finance, followed by a review of the Top Security and Risk Management Trends of 2019. The mid-morning presentations were delivered by Gartner Senior Director Analyst, Wam Voster. Voster described the recommended Top Security Projects for 2019 in the Context of the GCC Threat Landscape. He followed with the “Five Questions on Cyber-Security Asked by the Board of Directors” in which he advised attendees how to communicate effectively with the strategic decision makers of their organization. The afternoon session was a round-table discussion of Industrial Control Systems Cyber Security.

The event “broke records” in attendance by filling the auditorium and requiring an overflow room to provide seats for 250 attendees. The conference included attendees from Kuwait

University, Central Authority for Information Technology (CAIT), Central Information and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (CITRA), several Ministries, including Interior and Defense, and also specialists in Cyber Crime and Intelligence Services.

Dr Reem was enthusiastic about the number and quality of attendees and was encouraged by their appreciation of the content of the conference. Dr Reem has received many awards for her leadership in cyber-security: “Women Security Leaders Award” in the Middle East Security Awards (MESA) for 2019 & 2018; CISO50 Awards (Middle East) 2019; CISO30 Awards 2018 (Middle East); and the KOC CEO’s HSSE Award 2017 & 2018 as wel as being ranked as #1 for Cyber-Security in the “IFSEC Global Influencers Security & Fire 2019”.

However, Dr Reem always emphasizes the importance and excellent work of the outstanding KOC Information Security Team. For the Nov 22 conference, the team invested significant effort into creating an event that was made available to everyone in Kuwait. Dr Reem believes that this conference demonstrated the role of Kuwait as the “dove” in the region, bringing people together for peaceful purposes.