FEATURE: TRAINING
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Steve Tzikakis, President South Europe, Middle
East and Africa at SAP (centre), and Ahmed
Al-Faifi, Senior Vice President and Managing
Director, SAP Middle East North (centre left),
meet with Young Professionals Graduates
during the SAP NOW event in Riyadh
Yasser Zeineldin, CEO, eHosting DataFort,
said: “The frequency and very powerful
security threats that organisations are facing
are now being recognised and discussed in
boardrooms. Focused efforts are going into
detailed strategies to build and implement
comprehensive security for risk management
and protection.
“The fast-paced developments in
cybersecurity also call for specialised skills.
Most organisations are unprepared to adapt
to this next chapter.”
According to a Cisco 2016 Annual
Security Report, there is a deficit of one
million security practitioners, increasing
to 1.5 million by 2019. Globally, 26% of
organisations are facing staffing shortages,
and 35% are facing expertise shortages with
security jobs growing at 12 times the rate of
the overall job market, and three times the
rate of general IT.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) also
found that 21% of core skills in the Gulf
Cooperation Council will be different in 2020
than in 2015. Regionally, digital penetration
across the government and business sectors
in the Middle East has been growing at a very
rapid pace with the push being spearheaded
by local governments especially in countries
like Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt.
Partnering with
education providers
But what should be done? The response
is complex and often stretches across
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