SANS Institute, a cooperative research and education organization has opened registration for its upcoming cyber security training event in Saudi Arabia, taking place in Khobar from of December 2 to 7.

SANS Khobar 2017 will feature two of the Institute’s most widely acclaimed courses—tackling cyber security essentials, and diving deep into the protection of Industrial Control Systems (ICS).

Saudi Arabia has been the prime target for many of the Middle East’s largest cyber-attacks and researchers at the National Centre for Cyber Security at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology estimated an average of over 164,000 attacks per day in the Kingdom.

 “Digitizing the economy is a cornerstone of Saudi Vision 2030, but with this comes the need to protect against a greatly increased attack surface area. Core industry verticals such as Oil & Gas, as well as Government entities, have been repeatedly targeted with some of the most complex techniques in the recent past. It is therefore imperative for the Kingdom to develop home-grown cyber security experts who are professionally trained and certified,” explained Ned Baltagi, managing director, Middle East & Africa at SANS.

SANS Khobar 2017 will feature two courses that have been specifically selected to address the prime cyber security concerns that Saudi Arabian enterprises face. These are SEC401: Security Essentials Bootcamp Style and ICS410: ICS/SCADA Security Essentials, both of which are classroom style trainings that are heavily geared towards hands-on practice.

The former covers a wide range of security essentials including networking, cyber defences, secure communications, and operating system security, while also preparing participants for the GSEC certification.

Commenting on the Institute’s decision to offer ICS410, Baltagi said: “Historically, ICS systems have been designed chiefly with automation and reliability in mind. But given that Shamoon and other internet-based attacks specifically targeted the industrial sector in the Kingdom, we are keen to help organisations harden their ICS defences. By attending our training course, IT professionals will be able to increase the availability, reliability and safety of their ICS systems while reducing the business risk from cyber threats.” – TradeArabia News Service