Why this Russian hackathon draws cybersecurity professionals from Middle East
Under the bright Moscow sunlight, the majestic Luzhniki Stadium, which famously hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics and the final of the 2018 Fifa World Cup, opened its doors to tech experts for a high-profile international cybersecurity festival last month.
Arenas such as the Luzhniki Stadium resemble a cauldron in the middle of a sporting slugfest. But during the three-day festival (May 22-24), one of the world's most iconic sporting venues seemed like an exhibition centre where thousands of people arrived to get a glimpse of the latest advancements in the war on cyberattacks.
The irony was not lost on footballing connoisseurs as it was at the Luzhniki Stadium that the video referral technology was used for the first time in a Fifa World Cup when the Kylian Mbappe-inspired France were awarded a penalty during their 4-2 victory in the final against Croatia after a VAR (Video Assistant Referee) consultation by Argentinian on-field referee Nestor Pitana.
While technology has played a big role in neutralising human errors from referees, umpires and line judges in the sporting world, it can cripple human life when hackers penetrate computer systems.
Given that context, Positive Hack Days (PHD), the cybersecurity festival hosted by Positive Technologies, is a significant platform for a secure digital future.
The event — supported by the Ministry of Digital Development of Russia — saw prominent government officials, cybersecurity experts and ethical hackers from Asia, South America, Africa, and the Middle East share their knowledge on countermeasures against threats posed by hackers.
Ali Azzam, the Egypt-based Vice President of Mideast Communication Systems, underlined the importance of cybersecurity festivals such as the PHD in the current global environment.
'As the official distributor of Positive Technologies in the Middle East and Africa, we are thrilled to be attending Positive Hack Days Fest. This is our second time participating in this event, and it provides a fantastic opportunity to connect with cybersecurity experts from around the world,' Azzam said.
'Positive Technologies offers a range of unique cybersecurity solutions and has significant strengths and key advantages in various sectors. We believe it is essential for us to encourage Egyptians to attend this festival, as they can gain valuable insights that can be applied to the Middle Eastern industries.'
With more than 150,00 visitors and 180,000 online viewers, the 2025 edition of the Positive Hack Days was the biggest since its inception in 2011.
Among the attendees was Tushar Dinesh Vartak, Chief Information Security Officer of the UAE's RAKBank.
'Today's cybersecurity leaders must speak the language of top management and understand business processes to implement proactive, business-aligned security strategies,' Vartak said.
Vikneswaran Rajagopalan, a Dubai-based cybersecurity professional, revealed why it was so important to attend this cybersecurity festival in Moscow.
'Two years ago we started focusing more on OT (Operational Technology). We have a protected system, but attacks are still happening. So that's why it's one of the reasons for us to be here at this festival to look at the new inventions and learn about the new roadmaps and how we can adapt all that to our system for better security,' Rajagopalan said during a media roundtable at Luzhniki Stadium on the first day of the festival. 'We are well aware of this annual event for a long time. It's one of the biggest hackathon events in the world. It's very important for us to be here and understand how the technology grows.
'And Russia is well-known for ethical hackers. So we are here to understand the new solutions so we can serve the customers even better and prevent the attacks.'
The festival also threw light on AI-driven fraud and the importance of regulatory reforms for business strategies.
'Today if you look at it, AI is the buzzword, everything revolves around AI. If I look at Positive Technologies, and I have been working with them for quite a long time, their research team is using the technology properly and it is giving very good results,' said Rajagopalan.
Hundreds of professionals from corporate houses across the world attended the event. While they compete for the attention of clients in the cut-throat world of business, what binds them together is the need for a secure digital future.
'The solution lies in jointly building a new digital architecture where collaboration becomes a strategic advantage, not dependency,' said Yury Maksimov, co-founder of Cyberus.
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Khaleej Times
4 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Why this Russian hackathon draws cybersecurity professionals from Middle East
Under the bright Moscow sunlight, the majestic Luzhniki Stadium, which famously hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics and the final of the 2018 Fifa World Cup, opened its doors to tech experts for a high-profile international cybersecurity festival last month. Arenas such as the Luzhniki Stadium resemble a cauldron in the middle of a sporting slugfest. But during the three-day festival (May 22-24), one of the world's most iconic sporting venues seemed like an exhibition centre where thousands of people arrived to get a glimpse of the latest advancements in the war on cyberattacks. The irony was not lost on footballing connoisseurs as it was at the Luzhniki Stadium that the video referral technology was used for the first time in a Fifa World Cup when the Kylian Mbappe-inspired France were awarded a penalty during their 4-2 victory in the final against Croatia after a VAR (Video Assistant Referee) consultation by Argentinian on-field referee Nestor Pitana. While technology has played a big role in neutralising human errors from referees, umpires and line judges in the sporting world, it can cripple human life when hackers penetrate computer systems. Given that context, Positive Hack Days (PHD), the cybersecurity festival hosted by Positive Technologies, is a significant platform for a secure digital future. The event — supported by the Ministry of Digital Development of Russia — saw prominent government officials, cybersecurity experts and ethical hackers from Asia, South America, Africa, and the Middle East share their knowledge on countermeasures against threats posed by hackers. Ali Azzam, the Egypt-based Vice President of Mideast Communication Systems, underlined the importance of cybersecurity festivals such as the PHD in the current global environment. 'As the official distributor of Positive Technologies in the Middle East and Africa, we are thrilled to be attending Positive Hack Days Fest. This is our second time participating in this event, and it provides a fantastic opportunity to connect with cybersecurity experts from around the world,' Azzam said. 'Positive Technologies offers a range of unique cybersecurity solutions and has significant strengths and key advantages in various sectors. We believe it is essential for us to encourage Egyptians to attend this festival, as they can gain valuable insights that can be applied to the Middle Eastern industries.' With more than 150,00 visitors and 180,000 online viewers, the 2025 edition of the Positive Hack Days was the biggest since its inception in 2011. Among the attendees was Tushar Dinesh Vartak, Chief Information Security Officer of the UAE's RAKBank. 'Today's cybersecurity leaders must speak the language of top management and understand business processes to implement proactive, business-aligned security strategies,' Vartak said. Vikneswaran Rajagopalan, a Dubai-based cybersecurity professional, revealed why it was so important to attend this cybersecurity festival in Moscow. 'Two years ago we started focusing more on OT (Operational Technology). We have a protected system, but attacks are still happening. So that's why it's one of the reasons for us to be here at this festival to look at the new inventions and learn about the new roadmaps and how we can adapt all that to our system for better security,' Rajagopalan said during a media roundtable at Luzhniki Stadium on the first day of the festival. 'We are well aware of this annual event for a long time. It's one of the biggest hackathon events in the world. It's very important for us to be here and understand how the technology grows. 'And Russia is well-known for ethical hackers. So we are here to understand the new solutions so we can serve the customers even better and prevent the attacks.' The festival also threw light on AI-driven fraud and the importance of regulatory reforms for business strategies. 'Today if you look at it, AI is the buzzword, everything revolves around AI. If I look at Positive Technologies, and I have been working with them for quite a long time, their research team is using the technology properly and it is giving very good results,' said Rajagopalan. Hundreds of professionals from corporate houses across the world attended the event. While they compete for the attention of clients in the cut-throat world of business, what binds them together is the need for a secure digital future. 'The solution lies in jointly building a new digital architecture where collaboration becomes a strategic advantage, not dependency,' said Yury Maksimov, co-founder of Cyberus.
Khaleej Times
2 days ago
- Khaleej Times
Artificial Intelligence in cybersecurity: savior or saboteur?
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'The threat landscape is fundamentally shifting,' says Sergey Lozhkin, Head of the Global Research & Analysis Team for the Middle East, Türkiye, and Africa at Kaspersky. 'From the outset, cybercriminals began using large language models to craft highly convincing phishing emails. Poor grammar and awkward phrasing — once dead giveaways are disappearing. Today's scams can perfectly mimic tone, structure, and professional language.' But the misuse doesn't stop at email. Attackers are now using AI to create fake websites, generate deceptive images, and even produce deepfake audio and video to impersonate trusted figures. In some cases, these tactics have tricked victims into transferring large sums of money or divulging sensitive data. According to Roland Daccache, Senior Manager – Sales Engineering at CrowdStrike MEA, AI is now being used across the entire attack chain. 'Generative models are fueling more convincing phishing lures, deepfake-based social engineering, and faster malware creation. For example, DPRK-nexus adversary Famous Chollima used genAI to create fake LinkedIn profiles and résumé content to infiltrate organisations as IT workers. In another case, attackers used AI-generated voice and video deepfakes to impersonate executives for high-value business email compromise (BEC) schemes.' The cybercrime community is also openly discussing how to weaponize LLMs for writing exploits, shell commands, and malware scripts on dark web forums, further lowering the barrier of entry for would-be hackers. This democratisation of hacking tools means that even novice cybercriminals can now orchestrate sophisticated attacks with minimal effort. Ronghui Gu, Co-Founder of CertiK, a leading blockchain cybersecurity firm, highlights how AI is empowering attackers to scale and personalize their strategies. 'AI-generated phishing that mirrors human tone, deepfake technology for social engineering, and adaptive tools that bypass detection are allowing even low-skill threat actors to act with precision. For advanced groups, AI brings greater automation and effectiveness.' On the technical front, Janne Hirvimies, Chief Technology Officer of QuantumGate, notes a growing use of AI in reconnaissance and brute-force tactics. 'Threat actors use AI to automate phishing, conduct rapid data scraping, and craft malware that adapts in real time. Techniques like reinforcement learning are being explored for lateral movement and exploit optimisation, making attacks faster and more adaptive.' Fortifying Cyber Defenses To outsmart AI-enabled attackers, enterprises must embed AI not just as a support mechanism, but as a central system in their cybersecurity strategy. 'AI has been a core part of our operations for over two decades,' says Lozhkin. 'Without it, security operations center (SOC) analysts can be overwhelmed by alert fatigue and miss critical threats.' Kaspersky's approach focuses on AI-powered alert triage and prioritisation through advanced machine learning, which filters noise and surfaces the most pressing threats. 'It's not just about automation — it's about augmentation,' Lozhkin explains. 'Our AI Technology Research Centre ensures we pair this power with human oversight. That combination of cutting-edge analytics and skilled professionals enables us to detect over 450,000 malicious objects every day.' But the AI evolution doesn't stop at smarter alerts. According to Daccache, the next frontier is agentic AI — a system that can autonomously detect, analyze, and respond to threats in real time. 'Traditional automation tools can only go so far,' Daccache says. 'What's needed is AI that thinks and acts — what we call agentic capabilities. This transforms AI from a passive observer into a frontline responder.' CrowdStrike's Charlotte AI, integrated within its Falcon platform, embodies this vision. It understands security telemetry in context, prioritises critical incidents, and initiates immediate countermeasures, reducing analyst workload and eliminating delays during high-stakes incidents. 'That's what gives defenders the speed and consistency needed to combat fast-moving, AI-enabled threats,' Daccache adds. Gu believes AI's strength lies in its ability to analyze massive volumes of data and identify nuanced threat patterns that traditional tools overlook. 'AI-powered threat detection doesn't replace human decision-making — it amplifies it,' Gu explains. 'With intelligent triage and dynamic anomaly detection, AI reduces response time and makes threat detection more proactive.' He also stresses the importance of training AI models on real-world, diverse datasets to ensure adaptability. 'The threat landscape is not static. Your AI defenses shouldn't be either,' Gu adds. At the core of any robust AI integration strategy lies data — lots of it. Hirvimies advocates for deploying machine learning models across SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) and SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) platforms. 'These systems can correlate real-time threat intelligence, behavioral anomalies, and system events to deliver faster, more precise responses,' he says. 'Especially when it comes to detecting novel or stealthy attack patterns, machine learning makes the difference between catching a threat and becoming a headline.' Balancing Innovation with Integrity While AI can supercharge threat detection, response times, and threat simulations, it also brings with it the potential for misuse, collateral damage, and the erosion of privacy. 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This human-AI collaboration ensures that the tools remain aligned with organisational values and ethical norms. Hirvimies rounds out the conversation with additional cautionary notes: 'Privacy violations, data misuse, bias in training datasets, and the misuse of offensive tools are pressing concerns. Transparent governance and strict ethical guidelines aren't optional, they're essential.' Balancing the Equation While AI promises speed, scale, and smarter defense mechanisms, experts caution that an over-reliance on these systems, especially when deployed without proper calibration and oversight — could expose organisations to new forms of risk. 'Absolutely, over-reliance on AI can backfire if systems are not properly calibrated or monitored,' says Lozhkin. 'Adversarial attacks where threat actors feed manipulated data to mislead AI are a growing concern. Additionally, AI can generate false positives, which can overwhelm security teams and lead to alert fatigue. To avoid this, companies should use a layered defence strategy, retrain models frequently, and maintain human oversight to validate AI-driven alerts and decisions.' This warning resonates across the cybersecurity landscape. Daccache echoes the concern, emphasising the need for transparency and control. 'Over-relying on AI, especially when treated as a black box, carries real risks. Adversaries are already targeting AI systems — from poisoning training data to crafting inputs that exploit model blind spots,' he explains. 'Without the right guardrails, AI can produce false positives or inconsistent decisions that erode trust and delay response.' Daccache stresses that AI must remain a tool that complements — not replaces—human decision-making. 'AI should be an extension of human judgement. That requires transparency, control, and context at every layer of deployment. High-quality data is essential, but so is ensuring outcomes are explainable, repeatable and operationally sound,' he says. 'Organisations should adopt AI systems that accelerate outcomes and are verifiable, auditable and secure by design.' Gu adds that blind spots in AI models can lead to serious lapses. 'AI systems are not infallible,' he says. 'Over-reliance can lead to susceptibility to adversarial inputs or overwhelming volumes of false positives that strain human analysts. To mitigate this, organizations should adopt a human-in-the-loop approach, combine AI insights with contextual human judgment, and routinely stress-test models against adversarial tactics.' Gu also warns about the evolving tactics of bad actors. 'An AI provider might block certain prompts to prevent misuse, but attackers are constantly finding clever ways to circumvent these restrictions. This makes human intervention all the more important in companies' mitigation strategies.' Governing the Double-Edged Sword As AI continues to embed itself deeper into global digital infrastructure, the question of governance looms large: will we soon see regulations or international frameworks guiding how AI is used in both cyber defense and offense? Lozhkin underscores the urgency of proactive regulation. 'Yes, there should definitely be an international framework. AI technologies offer incredible efficiency and progress, but like any innovation, they carry their fair share of risks,' he says. 'At Kaspersky, we believe new technologies should be embraced, not feared. The key is to fully understand their threats and build strong, proactive security solutions that address those risks while enabling safe and responsible innovation.' For Daccache, the focus is not just on speculative regulation, but on instilling foundational principles in AI systems from the start. 'As AI becomes more embedded in cybersecurity and digital infrastructure, questions around governance, risk, and accountability are drawing increased attention,' he explains. 'Frameworks like the GDPR already mandate technology-neutral protections, meaning what matters most is how organizations manage risk not whether AI is used.' Daccache emphasises that embedding Privacy-by-Design and Secure-by-Design into AI development is paramount. 'To support this approach, CrowdStrike offers AI Red Teaming Services, helping organisations proactively test and secure their AI systems against misuse and adversarial threats. It's one example of how we're enabling customers to adopt AI with confidence and a security-first mindset.' On the other hand, Gu highlights how AI is not only transforming defensive mechanisms but is also fuelling new forms of offensive capabilities. 'As AI becomes integral to both defence and offense in cyberspace, regulatory frameworks will be necessary to establish norms, ensure transparency, and prevent misuse. We expect to see both national guidelines and international cooperation similar to existing cybercrime treaties emerge to govern AI applications, particularly in areas involving privacy, surveillance, and offensive capabilities.' Echoing this sentiment, Hirvimies concludes by saying that developments are already underway. 'Yes. Regulations like the EU AI Act and global cyber norms are evolving to address dual-use AI,' he says. 'We can expect more international frameworks focused on responsible AI use in cyber defence, limits on offensive AI capabilities, and cross-border incident response cooperation. At QuantumGate, we've designed our products to support this shift and facilitate compliance with the country's cryptography regulations.'
Zawya
3 days ago
- Zawya
Ukraine and Ghana Agreed to Develop Cooperation in Cybersecurity, Digitalization, and Information Technologies
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