Tamer Odeh, the Regional Director at SentinelOne in the Middle East, speaks about the challenges faced in 2020 and the opportunities to look forward to, in 2021

How was 2020 for the industry and your company?
2020 was a busy year for the cybersecurity industry; with employees distributed between home and the office, the rising rate of cyberattacks, and the lack of proper infrastructure to protect sensitive data remotely and offline. However, the increase of attacks was met with an increase in solutions and great innovation in cybersecurity technologies. 2020 was also the year we realized businesses require a “pandemic continuity” plan to ensure on-going success despite the circumstances. Businesses can never be as prepared as they hope to be, and the gaps became very clear in 2020 as businesses and governments struggled to develop new and untested operation plans.

According to you, which technologies will be in demand in 2021?
Human resilience will take a new meaning in 2021, where staying connected and cultivating an attitude of positivity will determine factors for success. New leadership styles must emerge to communicate, collaborate, and operate in an increasingly complex environment today. For technology leaders, this is the best opportunity to move away from outdated schemes and adopt bolder and more effective AI-based solutions.

What would you like to do differently in 2021, when compared with 2020?
2021 will see greater adoption of automation in cybersecurity and response. The frequency and effectiveness of attacks have rapidly gone up during the course of 2020, and the inadequacy of depending solely on human intervention is now apparent. Such an evolution of cyberattacks requires us to also take lead, innovate, and come up with machine-speed solutions and means for protection.