Page 62 - SAMENA Trends - February 2020

ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS

ARTICLE

Recognizing Cybersecurity as an Organizational Issue,

Not an IT Play

Zain Group has been proactive in raising
awareness of the importance of cyber
resilience within the organization, while

also being an active investor in cutting-
edge technology and solutions geared at
cyber securing its digital data.

Cybersecurity, and more significantly cyber resilience, is a central
issue in the digital age we currently exist in. Cyber resilience
within organizations refers to their ability to take a hard look at
their business practices and make significant investments in their
resources, structures and policies to ensure that they are able to
prevent, detect, respond, and quickly recover from attempts to
compromise their digital systems.

The responsibility on telecom and other types of technology
companies to maintain the integrity of their own as well as third-
party digital assets is even more onerous. For its part, Zain Group
has been proactive in raising awareness of the importance of
cyber resilience within the organization, while also being an active
investor in cutting-edge technology and solutions geared at cyber
AbdulGhaffar Setareh securing its digital data.
Chief Risk Officer
Zain Group As digitization gains pace and the integration of systems
becomes commonplace, it has become clear that cybersecurity is
not just an IT issue, it is an organizational one. As such, it needs
to be addressed strategically within the company rather than
just tactically. Starting with senior management, organizations
need to adopt a culture of raising awareness of the importance of
cybersecurity and resilience, and then oversee its implementation
across business functions and operations.

Zain’s Group Risk Management is at the forefront of raising and
implementing cybersecurity initiatives within the organization. For
example, it has developed material for a year-long cybersecurity
awareness program and shared it with all operating companies.
The program, with a slogan of PAUSE, THINK, ACT, has developed
into an on-going initiative throughout the year, and is updated
regularly with the latest trends in cybersecurity risks.

62 FEBRUARY 2020