I recently returned from the 2025 Global Cybersecurity Forum Annual Meeting 2025, perhaps the most prestigious of cybersecurity conferences. This is an event populated by Presidents, Prime Ministers, Sheiks, Sultans, Emirs, Princes, and delegates from the European Commission, United Nations, World Economic Forum, and countless other global bodies. And of course, it has all the pomp and grandeur one expects from a high-level event in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
This year’s focus was upon “Scaling Cohesive Advancement in Cyberspace” and was built upon the pillars of fostering better alignment, redefining cyber economics and economic cohesion, strengthening cyber inclusion, adopting a behavioral lens on cyberspace, and harnessing technological advancements to tackle fast-evolving challenges in Cyberspace
The invite only two day event drew hundreds of delegates from all over the world to hear more than one hundred experts and thought leaders present to attendees. I was one of those presenters and led a discussion panel on “Cyber Immunity: Strengthening Cyber Resilience for Global Health Systems” with Professor Attila Hertelendy from FIU, a close friend and fellow healthcare security evangelist.
Much of the conference was focused upon the protection of critical national infrastructure industries like healthcare, an industry undergoing a dramatic digital transformation throughout the world, but especially so in the developing world, and across much of the Gulf region. Attacks against critical infrastructure are on the rise with a hugely disproportionate impact.
When the power or water grid are attacked we can revert to flashlights, candles, and bottled drinking water until services are restored. When healthcare is attacked and hospitals go dark, patients immediately suffer with diagnosis and treatment systems not able to be used. The longer these systems remain dark, the greater the probability that patients will die or be harmed by delayed treatment. Ransomware attacks are especially heinous and lead directly to patient morbidity and mortality as we have seen in an increasing number of cyber attacks.
More in my interview with the Saudi Press Agency below:
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