SANS Institute has announced its upcoming live online training program ‘SANS Summer Dunes August 2021 Live Online’, to be held from 14 – 19 August. Designed to offer flexible access to cybersecurity training taught by real-world practitioners, the event enables Gulf professionals to protect their assets by learning critical skills in a hands-on lab in a virtual setting.

Expert instructors will help participants develop skills in topics such as network penetration testing, advanced incident response and threat hunting to defend their organisations against ever-increasing cyber threats. ‘SANS Summer Dunes August 2021 Live Online’ will feature two new GIAC-certified courses: ICS410: ICS/SCADA Security Essentials, aimed at industrial cybersecurity professionals; and MGT551 Managing a Security Operations Centre (SOC), aimed at those looking to build SOCs.

The challenging market conditions of the pandemic forced regional enterprises to re-evaluate their cybersecurity practices as they pivoted from a cloud-last to cloud-only perspective, while unsecure habits of remote workers also exacerbated regional and global data breaches.

According to the Gartner 2020 Board of Directors Survey, cybersecurity-related risk is rated as the second-highest source of risk for the enterprise, following regulatory compliance risk. However, relatively few directors feel confident that their company is properly secured against a cyber-attack.

“Through its ambitious vision, the Gulf is on course to become one of the world’s most digitised economies. While a truly networked region will be the catalyst for exponential business and civic progress, these opportunities also mandate the need for vigilant protection of corporate and government networks,” commented Ned Baltagi, Managing Director – Middle East and Africa at SANS Institute.

Against a backdrop of rising nation state attacks and even vaccine IP meddling, cyber threats are on the rise. It is critical that governments and enterprises strengthen their security postures, hire more cybersecurity practitioners and upskill their existing cybersecurity teams to keep up with the fast-changing technology landscape. Developing regional cybersecurity skills must be a top priority to help prevent future attacks.

‘SANS Summer Dunes August 2021 Live Online’ provides an immersive training experience for Gulf professionals, providing them with industry relevant and innovative content, alongside skills and techniques, equipping them to defend their organisations against security breaches and future attacks amidst the pandemic.

Top experts Stephen Mathezer and Mark Orlando will conduct sessions with comprehensive coverage of tools, techniques and methodologies and train participants to find vulnerabilities and mitigate their effects. Electronic and printed learning materials are provided, in addition to an archive of course lectures for later viewing for up to four months. Both courses are hosted in SANS’ Live online training modality which has been perfected over the last 18 months to provide an optimal learning environment.

The six-day ICS410: ICS/SCADA Security Essentials course provides a foundational set of standardised skills and knowledge for industrial cybersecurity professionals. The program offers insights into industrial control systems, hands-on lab learning experiences to control system attacks, incident response skills, as well governance model outlines.

The five-day MGT551 Managing a Security Operations Centre program looks at guidelines for building a high-performing SOC and the tools needed to manage an effective defence system. Participants will learn how to combine SOC staff, processes and technology in a way that promotes measurable results.

‘SANS Summer Dunes August 2021 Live Online’ also enables participants the opportunity to connect and network with like-minded security professionals from the region through virtual chat rooms, facing similar career and organisational challenges.