News

Netskope Predicts Future Middle East Cybersecurity Trends

Experts from Netskope contemplate what’s on the horizon for phishing, ransomware, and other security threats as we approach 2023.

Published

4 years ago

November 28, 2022

Nour Nasir

netskope predicts future middle east cybersecurity trends

Netskope, a global Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) leader, has just revealed the results of its annual investigation into the state of cybersecurity in the Middle East as 2022 comes to an end.

In a region that’s digitizing at a rapid rate, Netskope anticipates several new trends in cyber attacker behavior, as well as a rise in software supply chain attacks and various other cloud vulnerabilities.

“Similar to how we have done this in years past, we have sourced these predictions from across our team of internal experts; our global and regional CIOs, CISOs, CTOs, and the specialists in our Threat Labs. Some of these predictions touch on topics that you may have seen discussed this year, considering how they will evolve, while others feature technologies and dynamics that may be completely new on the radar of Middle Eastern organizations for 2023,” says Jonathan Mepsted, VP for Netskope, Middle East and Africa.

So, what kinds of cyber threats do we expect to see intensifying in 2023? For starters, ransomware and extortion-style scams will be more prolific than ever. In addition, confidential and highly sensitive data will become vulnerable to sophisticated encryption attacks from professional extortion groups such as LAPSUS$ and RansomHouse.

Also Read: How To Find The Best Remote Work Opportunities In The Middle East

As well as a rise in well-known online hacks and scams, Netskope believes that software supply chain attacks will also intensify — especially as we become more accepting of the concept of the “industrial metaverse”. Supply chain automation and optimization are on the rise, but bring a set of unique challenges for security experts.

This year, to be better prepared for emerging trends and threat models, Netskope’s NewEdge infrastructure added five new data centers in the Middle East region, supporting businesses across a wide range of sectors, including finance, telecom, and energy.

News

Instagram Redraws Its Wordmark And The Internet Reads “Instagzam”

Instagram’s first wordmark refresh in a decade arrives with new fonts, a restrained gradient — and a Reddit verdict of sidegrade.

Published

4 days ago

August 14, 2026

Nour Nasir

Instagram

Although Instagram’s famous camera icon hasn’t changed, the company has refreshed the handwritten wordmark at the top of its app. This is the first redesign we’ve seen in ten years, and one the internet promptly set about renaming.

“The wordmark at the top of the app hasn’t changed in 10 years, so it was time for a refresh,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote in a post on August 13, describing the new version as “cleaner and more modern” while keeping references to the original design.

Instagram says its team explored hundreds of options — all-caps lettering, camera-inspired concepts, even literal handwriting — before returning to script. “Script reflects individuality, so referencing that felt right,” Instagram director of product design Jasmine Probst said in Meta’s announcement. “The new wordmark is bolder and simpler, with touches of unexpectedness. It cues individual expression, a personal voice, both of which have always been core to Instagram”.

The wordmark is part of a broader brand overhaul: an updated Instagram Sans typeface, two new fonts — the hand-drawn Instagram Pen and Instagram Mono — plus refreshed motion and layouts, and more restrained use of the signature gradient. The wordmark is rolling out globally now, with the rest arriving throughout 2026 and beyond.

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The design mixes cursive and print lettering, some characters connected and others floating free. That hybrid approach, combined with unusually shaped “s” and “r” characters, led some users to conclude the logo actually reads “Instagzam”. On the r/logodesign subreddit, one user said the wordmark looked “fan-made,” like something built in Canva; another called it “an unsettling mix of manuscript and cursive”; a third summarized it as a “sidegrade” — or, inevitably, a “zidegrade”.

Not everyone was hostile to the new look. Some found the half-cursive design stylish and surprisingly readable, while others called it an improvement on its predecessor, and one commenter argued Instagram was simply adopting minimalist branding later than everyone else. Either way, the platform now has a refreshed identity, three updated fonts, and an unofficial new pronunciation.