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

Samsung And Spotify Offer Free Premium Deal In MENA

Nearly seven in ten streams in the region come from 18-to-34-year-olds — the audience Samsung is hoping to entice into its ecosystem.

Published

6 days ago

August 7, 2026

Nour Nasir

Samsung

Samsung has announced a partnership with Spotify spanning the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye, bundling Spotify Premium with select devices across its ecosystem. The headline offer — up to four months of Premium for free — is a first for the region.

Customers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Türkiye who buy any OLED or 98-inch television, or any Galaxy S or Z series mobile device, get four months of Spotify Premium. The offer, tiered by market and device, is available at retail and on Samsung.com, and redeemed through the Samsung Promotion and Samsung Members apps.

For Samsung, the strategy is less about free music than about lock-in. The Korean tech giant’s pitch is continuity: a track starts on a Galaxy smartphone through Galaxy Buds on the commute, moves to a Samsung TV and soundbar in the living room, and stays controllable from a Galaxy Watch. The more seamlessly music travels between those devices, the harder it becomes to swap any one of them for a rival’s.

“Technology should bring people closer to the things they love, and few things connect people the way music does,” said Omar Saheb, Regional VP of Marketing and Online Business at Samsung Electronics MENA. The partnership, he added, gives customers “a genuine reason to choose Samsung for the experience, not only the product”.

Also Read: Shokz OpenFit Pro Review: Open-Ear Audio Finally Grows Up

For subscribers, Premium brings the usual package: ad-free listening, offline downloads, richer audio quality on Galaxy Buds and Samsung sound devices, and Jam, which lets friends build a shared queue.

“At Spotify, we are always working to make every listening moment feel more personal, meaningful, and worth it,” said Rami Jamal, Head of Partnerships at Spotify for South Asia, Middle East, and Africa.

The demographics go a long way to explaining the strategy. Across MENA, Türkiye, and Pakistan, nearly seven in ten Spotify streams come from listeners aged 18 to 34, according to the company — precisely the audience Samsung wants inside its hardware ecosystem before buying habits harden.