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Agora Group To Host Gulf Congress On Cybersecurity In Riyadh
The one-day event will take place on September 20th, and its goal is to highlight the challenges facing governments, businesses, and individuals.
As the largest information and communication technology (ICT) market in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is a prime target for cyber attacks. In 2020 alone, the Kingdom recorded over 22.5 million of them, and the figure is expected to keep increasing. To help keep the cyber threats of both today and tomorrow at bay, Agora Group will host over 200 international cyberwarfare experts at the 5th edition of the Gulf Congress on Cybersecurity in Riyadh.
The one-day event will take place on September 20th, and its goal is to highlight the challenges facing governments, businesses, and individuals in securing the acquisition, protection, and dissemination of data and information in an era of connectivity and mobility.
Here’s a list of the topics that will be the focus of the 5th edition of the Gulf Congress on Cybersecurity in Riyadh:
- Smart Kingdom.
- Integrating cybersecurity policies into the strategic mission of public and private institutions.
- The new normal of work – post pandemic and future trends in remote working. How can cybersecurity cope?
- Cybersecurity and AI an unbreakable bond in a future of automation and orchestration.
- OT cybersecurity – half of all cyber attacks in the Middle East target the oil & gas industry. Previously, these attacks were focused on the IT environment, however, we’ve been seeing an increase in attacks on operational technology.
- Data management, governance and protection.
“Our aim is to create a stimulating and invigorating convocation that links some of the foremost thinkers in the cybersecurity world today to share ideas, raise challenging questions, and inspire thought to action,” state the organizers of the event in the official press release.
Agora Group is expecting more than 150 senior-level attendees at the event. Those who would like to attend and take part in the event should hurry up and register today because seats are limited.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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