DarkMatter, an international cyber security firm headquartered in the UAE, announces its participation at the forthcoming World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC) 2016, taking place between 5 – 7 December, 2016 at the ART Rotana Hotel, Amwaj Islands, Manama, Bahrain. DarkMatter is the Cyber Security Innovation Partner to the event.
Celebrating its 23rd year of existence, the conference theme this year is “Economic Uncertainties: Vigilance & Growth”. WIBC 2016 is aimed at enabling Islamic finance to converge, strengthen and grow as an ecosystem whilst equipping leaders with breakthrough insights to navigate the complexity of the global financial system, and securing digital assets is part of that mandate.
The banking and finance sector is of strategic significance to DarkMatter and is clearly an economic area heavily targeted by cyber criminals looking to steal, extort, or corrupt digital information with the view to benefiting financially. In the Middle East, cyber security generally remains an area of concern with a recent industry report estimating that the financial cost of cyber crime to the UAE alone has reached $1.4 billion to date this year, an increase of 4.9% year-on-year.
Globally, the financial cost decreased by 16% to $125.9 billion during the same period, the report estimates, highlighting that in the UAE, and indeed other markets across the region, financial institutions need to take pro-active steps to defend and secure their digital assets from internal and external cyber threats.
During its participation at WIBC 2016, DarkMatter is keen to emphasise the requirement for financial institutions to assume heightened security postures, with Harshul Joshi, Senior Vice President of Cyber Governance, Risk and Compliance set to make a keynote address considering Cyber Security Challenges Facing The Banking Industry in the Middle East.
Rabih Dabboussi, DarkMatter’s Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Business Development is set to offer his insights on why Cyber Security is an imperative in the Digital Banking Era, during a presentation to the assembled audience, where he will focus his comments on the requirement for the banking sector to develop a strong cyber security posture as institutions continue to adopt new technologies and advanced processes at a fast pace.
Commenting on DarkMatter’s participation at WIBC 2016, Rabih Dabboussi said, “The banking and finance community is well aware of the cyber threats their industry attracts, and our interest in being present at this important meeting of Islamic financiers is to bring home the message that there are technologies, tools, processes and specialists who can help them navigate this potentially hazardous landscape.”
WIBC is a premier gathering for top-level, global Islamic finance and banking industry figures drawn from institutional investors, asset managers, policy makers, and academics among other stakeholders. Key features for WIBC 2016 include a Governors’ power table; specialised streams focused on banking leadership opportunities and asset management best practices; thought leadership from leading strategy consultants; and panel sessions focused on SMEs and entrepreneurs considering the impact of innovation in financial technology.
