For the next interview in our series speaking to technical leaders from around the world, we’ve welcomed Matt Polak, CEO and Founder at Picnic Corporation. Matt Polak is a subject matter expert in intelligence collection, having spent his career applying these skills to intractable growth and competitive strategy challenges for Fortune 500 customers.

Organizations in the UAE have been able to deliver innovative services and stimulate economic development through the increasing adoption of Information Technology (IT), electronic communications, and cyberspace, which is a global network of interconnected telecommunications networks, information technology infrastructures, and computer processing systems. As these technologies develop, the UAE's dependence on them will increase.

In the event that there was a malicious actor who wanted to disable a country or state's power supply, the utility sector would be one of the first targets of this attack as seen in the Moore County power outage and the recent attacks on Portland’s infrastructure. Whenever stakes are this critical, it is essential that security is prioritized throughout the systems and processes involved in such matters.

For ensuring compliance in your business practises, it is worth noting that it is just as common (if not more common) for bad actors to target small businesses and small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A website can easily get hacked, an email account can be compromised, and sensitive information may even be stolen by employees. These are just a few common examples of how data can be breached.