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

3 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.

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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

Lebanon Ministers Meet Visa Over National Digital Payment Platform

Finance and technology ministers say a comparative study and roadmap will follow before any decision on adopting a model.

Published

19 hours ago

May 5, 2026

Joanna Melki

lebanon ministers meet visa over national digital payment platform

Lebanon’s finance and technology ministers met representatives from Visa last week to discuss a proposed unified national digital payment platform for government services, according to a readout from the Ministry of Finance.

The meeting brought together Finance Minister Yassin Jaber, Minister of State for Technology and Artificial Intelligence Kamal Shehadeh, a Visa delegation, and experts from both ministries. Discussion focused on whether Lebanon could establish a single platform through which citizens and institutions would pay taxes, fees, fines and other official transactions electronically, using mobile phones and other digital channels.

The Visa delegation presented examples from countries that have adopted unified government payment platforms, including the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Estonia and Jordan. According to the readout, the examples were presented as having increased collection rates and expanded financial inclusion.

Talks covered settlement mechanisms, direct transfer to the treasury account, financial reconciliation, risk management, cybersecurity, fees, and an operational model that would involve the private sector. The parties agreed to continue technical and institutional consultations, prepare a comparative study, and develop an implementation roadmap before any decision on adopting a model for Lebanon.

Jaber said the Ministry of Finance had already enabled citizens to pay using credit cards and e-wallets through transfer companies, but described the proposed platform as a further step. He framed the development of electronic payment and collection systems as a priority within the ministry’s modernization plan.

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Shehadeh outlined the citizen-facing concept as a single mobile application through which users could settle obligations to ministries, government institutions and other bodies.

“The idea, in short, is that any citizen downloads an application on their mobile phone, through which they can pay all service obligations for all ministries, government institutions, or those owned by the Lebanese state, and others as well, as the platform is not limited only to state institutions,” he said.

Shehadeh added that the platform would not displace banks and money transfer companies that currently provide collection services to the state, calling it complementary to their work.