Truly Secure: Keeping cyberattacks at bay for enterprises in the region

Mitchell Mobayed is a British and Lebanese citizen who was born in Abu Dhabi and raised in Dubai. His family has been in the UAE since the early 1970s.

Mobayed has lived in the United States of America (USA) for seven years, completed his studies and gained valuable work experience under a Fortune 500 company. However, he always knew that he would return to the UAE.

He said: “In 2018, it provided me with the best foundation full of international experience at such a young age. The Expo 2020 Dubai had been announced, and the UAE was on a journey following a positive trajectory. It was time to come back home and make a mark.”

His return to his adopted homeland led to the foundation of Truly Secure, a next-generation information technology (IT) provider for digital transformation, encouraging companies to take action to protect the security within their business’s technological environment.

Mobayed co-founded the company in 2017 with Jonathan Kelly, who is the chief technology officer (CTO).

Mobayed said: “We’re a Microsoft Gold Partner, and work with several leading vendors in cyberspace. Our goal is to become the market leader for IT-managed services in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region by leveraging global innovative technologies and continuing to become experts throughout the technology space. The new wave and world that is coming will immerse us via virtual and augmented reality, utilising digital currencies and ever more, increasing the value chain in the digital space. Internet of Thing (IoT) deployments will become more prevalent across industries, multiplying points of attack for hackers. As the value grows, so too does the target.”

He made a passionate pitch to his potential clients: “Will your company be prepared to defend itself, or will the lack of preparation force you to close? Contact us today to prevent attacks and maintain your business continuity.”

Truly Secure is on a mission to increase efficiency and security amongst small businesses and large enterprises within a vulnerable technology space with its managed services and IT solutions and is vying for the market leader’s position among established cyber-security conglomerates.

Truly Secure offers strategy, datacenter, cloud services, cybersecurity, and develops to build modern workplaces, ensuring companies are provided with the optimal technological solutions. It has successfully delivered tailored IT management services and consultancy across the region for clients including government, semi-government, large enterprise companies, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Mobayed illustrated with examples how a staggering 58 per cent of breaches occur within SMEs due to the lack of security implementation or management services. “The majority of cyber-attacks are attempted with a financial motive. These hackers utilise social media platforms to understand the social construct of companies to plan out their attacks. Data shows that 60 per cent of smaller companies do not survive longer than six months following a cyber breach. According to the 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), Basic Web Application Attacks represent 80 per cent of breaches to companies under 1,000 people.

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However, 97 per cent of breaches appearing in companies could have been prevented with the IT managed services that Truly Secure is offering to companies today. This includes managed firewalls, multi-factor authentication, cybersecurity solutions and more. It is not a matter of if, but when they will attack,” he said.

The young entrepreneur explained how cybersecurity is coming of age in the UAE and the wider region.

“The UAE has taken great strides in implementing the new Federal Data Protection Law in 2021. This ensures that companies are held responsible for the trust that the public provides when accepting to be a customer of that organisation. Companies should review the legislation and act by implementing the necessary steps for compliance.

The wider region, most notably, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), have similarly taken effective measures in maximising investment into the cybersecurity space and reinforcing their national digital security, while also releasing their own national cybersecurity legislation. By working with Truly Secure, we can effectively guide your organisation through its digital transformation journey and comply with international best practices,” he said. However, he agreed that there are several challenges confronting cybersecurity.

“Cybersecurity is an ever-evolving game of cat and mouse. Just when you think you are secure, hackers learn new ways to try and exploit vulnerabilities or new weaknesses. Therefore, dark web research is paramount in a good cybersecurity strategy. By scanning the unknown you can learn and gain intelligence on up-and-coming potential attacks. It requires us as Truly Secure to be well informed on industry developments and innovations, so we may effectively provide the necessary protection to our clients,” he added.

He cited the discernible trend of growing demand for IT services in the UAE.

“Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the world was forced to interact via technology more than ever, which also resulted in a sharp increase in cyber-attacks. Companies which were prepared, survived, and blossomed. Companies that were not prepared, suffered tremendously as they did not have the digital infrastructure for business continuity and collaboration. Since then, the demand has continued to increase due to the crucial requirement of digital infrastructure in our daily business activities. However, a great system with poor management will ultimately fail, which is why it is important to select a trustworthy and experienced managed service provider with strong IT capabilities,” Mobayed said.

He weighed in on steps being taken to prevent IT breaches. “There are about 15 different ways a company’s system can be breached. E-mail is the main attack vector. Hence, a multi-layered security defense strategy is the best. Should an illicit e-mail get through the defense, then you are relying on user awareness training to kick in for the user to realise that something does not look correct. If this fails, then the endpoint detection and response software will prevent the attack. Multiple layers are deployed until the attack is prevented,” he added.

The road ahead

Mobayed said Truly Secure was created to support and empower companies in the region to tackle digital hurdles which could either make or break them. The UAE is a country where almost 100 per cent of the population is connected to the internet, increasing the potential for cyber-attacks considering the high value of business conducted.

“Our goal is to create partnerships with our clients to give them peace of mind, knowing that Truly Secure is monitoring the company infrastructure and security 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Truly Secure has been able to build a solid reputation for delivering services to Fortune 500 companies, digital banks, and startups within the region. My goal is for our clients to see the value in our relationship, by giving them access to trained technical personnel, who can deliver a personalised service ensuring the best quality is always prioritised. In such, our interests align with the client, as our role is to provide the latest in cutting-edge technologies to always protect and improve innovation within our client’s ecosystem,” he added.

• Dubai