The company’s Middle East, Turkey, and Africa office will feature a state-of-the-art Critical Infrastructure Protection lab, which will allow customers and partners to witness IT-OT security solutions in action.
OPSWAT has announced the opening of its Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META) regional office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The move is aimed at answering the increasing demand across the region for zero-trust cybersecurity solutions capable of safeguarding critical infrastructure.
The opening of OPSWAT’s Dubai office closely follows a period of significant growth for the company in the region. Over the past 12 months its regional momentum has included 60% growth in revenue, 50% growth in its customer base, a 50% increase in the number of projects, and a substantial increase in the company’s operational resources.
OPSWAT’s regional customers include organizations in the manufacturing, nuclear, energy, oil and gas, government, and defense sectors. More than 50 GCC ministries selected OPSWAT in the past year and the company is also actively working with almost all the region’s oil and gas companies. In the financial services sector, OPSWAT has provided solutions and products to 43 regional banks — including eight central banks — since March 2022, and is in the POC stage with approximately 50 other FSI entities.
“This office opening is timely, as we will have an on-the-ground presence in a market where we are fast becoming the vendor of choice for government ministries and banks. Our expectation is to see at least 500 companies as our customers in the META region by the end of this year,” said Sertan Selcuk, VP of Sales, Middle East, Turkey, Africa & Pakistan (METAP), OPSWAT.
“Like elsewhere, many critical infrastructure networks in the Middle East rely on outdated or legacy systems that were not originally designed with robust security in mind. Most OT networks rely heavily on IT systems and this interconnectedness often increases the attack surface. Securing these interdependencies poses substantial challenges,” Selcuk added.
Selcuk explained that the ongoing merger between IT and OT has added many layers of complexity to securing critical infrastructure. IT cybersecurity solutions lack the tools to protect such infrastructure and very few security professionals have the skills to tackle the current threat landscape as it relates to OT. A further challenge is that few training and certification programs focus on critical infrastructure protection.
From its new base in Dubai, the company will offer CDR and other technologies to an expanded market. Its hub presence will ease OPSWAT’s engagement with partners and customers, who will get face-to-face access to industry experts. They will also be able to explore the advantages of OPSWAT Academy training, experience attack simulations, and discuss with the company’s experts how to combine these products and services to build the best possible OT security posture.
