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RIYADH: US-based cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks has partnered with Sirar, the cybersecurity subsidiary of Saudi telecom giant stc, to combat the growing internet threats, said the CEO EMEA and LATAM of Palo Alto Networks.
“The partnership is important as the Kingdom has a strong and advanced awareness status in cybersecurity, but it’s always a race between the tech front,” said Palo Alto Networks’ CEO EMEA and LATAM Helmut Reisinger.
“It is important for technology providers since they rely heavily on local partners,” he added.
Speaking on the current cyber trends affecting the region, he said: “the Middle East is a global trading place in all the ecosystems. It’s home to critical infrastructure and there’s paranoia, given the global geopolitical situation, about protecting this infrastructure.”
“Saudi Arabia has one of the most critical assets in this area. The Kingdom has a strong digital way of life, with businesses strongly adopting digital transformation.”
When talking about the significant cyber threat, he explains that the major threats today are mainly related to infrastructure and cloud security since 43 percent of cloud workloads are not protected.
“And then, another major threat is that the hacker community becomes increasingly industrialized,” he added.
Additionally, ransomware attacks, business email compromises and software vulnerabilities pose the greatest threat. “This is why there are increasing soft supply chain attacks, which means you take advantage of a vulnerability in a softer piece.”
Talking about measures the Kingdom should implement to increase its resilience to cyber-attacks, Reisinger believes it should raise awareness that cyberattacks can also be physical attacks.
It also should identify the critical lessons you are learning in a country. “I think an overarching good plan and governance is in place to increase this level. We see this, we hear this, and there are activities ongoing on that.”
“The other pieces I believe in the making are also role models in the region, and the Kingdom is a good place if you look here for the global cybersecurity forum is quite impressive,”
Reisinger also urged private entities and governments to adopt a zero-trust policy. “We call it zero trust with zero exceptions,” he added.
As global worker places are shifting to hybrid workspaces, Reisinger said there is a need to protect network assets and remote workers, who are increasingly working in hybrid environments.
Palo Alto Networks is a leader in cybersecurity globally, with a market cap of around $50 billion with strong market growth.
JAKARTA: Indonesia is considering allocating $320 million from next year’s budget to encourage purchases of electric vehicles, a senior minister said on Wednesday, as the country trails in the transition to clean energy.
The Southeast Asian nation, one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gas, has set a new target to cut emissions levels by almost 32 percent on its own by 2030 — a goal more ambitious than its Paris Agreement pledge — and also hopes to achieve net zero emissions by 2060.
Transportation contributes 44 percent to Indonesia’s total energy consumption, according to official data. To reduce that figure, the government is planning to introduce a cap on prices of electric vehicles in a bid to boost sales.
“This is an incentive that many other countries are already doing, because the key for us is energy transition,” Chief Economics Minister Airlangga Hartarto told reporters in Jakarta on Wednesday.
“We also need to develop our market so that (sales of) electric cars can reach a minimum of 20 percent by 2025, around 400,000 units.”
President Joko Widodo, who also took part in the press conference, said that incentives could help to develop the homegrown EV industry.
“We hope with the incentives our electric cars and electric motorcycles industry in our country will grow,” he said.
Despite the government’s focus on promoting EVs, experts said that Indonesia is still lagging in the shift to clean energy sources.
“Without balancing energy transition from fossil energy sources, especially coal, to clean and renewable energy, this incentive is only going to shift emissions from the transport sector to the electricity sector,” Tata Mustasya, regional climate and energy campaign strategist at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, told Arab News.
“There’s a need to speed up energy transition so that the incentives for hybrid cars and electric motorcycles will actually benefit the efforts to reduce emissions.”
Fossil fuels are the dominant source in Indonesia’s power mix, consisting of more than 87 percent. With Indonesia’s slow transition to clean energy, charging EVs is likely to depend on those unclean sources as well.
“The electricity used to charge our EVs is rather carbon-intensive,” Agus Sari, environmentalist and CEO of Landscape Indonesia, which focuses on sustainable landscape management, told Arab News.
“I think promoting EV is a great policy, but EV comes out of two major policies: energy and mobility. We need to make sure that our EV promotion policy is comprehensively integrated with the two,” he said.
Other countries that introduced EV subsidies have also adopted policies to improve city planning, create walkable urban centers and develop efficient public transport systems, he added.
“For energy, we need to make sure that the source of electricity charging our EVs comes from clean sources, otherwise we only move the pollution, not reduce it.”
RIYADH: Hassana Investment Co. — the Riyadh-based investment arm of the General Organization for Social Insurance — announced an investment of SR9 billion ($2.4 billion) in three assets of the Dubai-based DP World.
The agreement sees Hassana acquire a strategic stake of 10.2 percent in three strategic centers of the DP World group — Jebel Ali Port, Jebel Ali Free Zone and the National Industries Park.
The global hubs support supply chains and logistics services for over 9,000 companies internationally, serving over 3.5 billion customers.
The acquisition of these assets, which generated revenues exceeding SR7 billion in 2021, would facilitate Hassana’s trade flow globally and pare down debt for DP World.
Furthermore, the transaction “will support our target of achieving a strong investment-grade rating for the DP World Group,” said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the CEO of DP World Group, in a statement.
“It is expected that the company’s business will continue to grow in the future due to the combination of favorable demographic factors, the growth of the region’s economies and the major investments in it, in addition to the expectations of a boom in trade exchange between developing countries in Asia and Africa,” noted Saad bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Fadhli, CEO of Hassana.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and the UK on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding to identify economic opportunities, exchange experiences and enhance cooperation in the field of financial development and public finance services.
The MoU was signed during a meeting between Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan and his British counterpart Jeremy Hunt in London.
According to an official statement, the two ministers discussed bilateral ties, major global economic issues and the promising outlook of the Saudi economy.
Al-Jadaan, who is on a two-day visit to the UK, also held a meeting with Investment Minister Lord Johnson and discussed ways to enhance bilateral ties and cooperation in financial services between the two countries.
The Saudi minister also met investors and CEOs of British companies and briefed them about the promising outlook of the Saudi economy, and the Kingdom’s ongoing plans for economic and financial reforms within the framework of Saudi Vision 2030.
Al-Jadaan also held a meeting with the Lord Mayor of London, Nicholas Lyons, and reviewed public-private partnerships in the Kingdom with him.
RIYADH: Saudi asset manager SNB Capital has launched its first Megatrends Fund to offer investment opportunities across several transformative industries, according to a company statement.
The fund looks to provide the necessary support to retail and institutional investors in accessing high-growth sectors, including global environmental, social and governance opportunities.
Additionally, the fund is planning on investing in future-focused industries such as digital transformation, sustainable investments, and rapid urbanization.
The company said the fund’s focus on disruptive industries would also allow investors to diversify their portfolio while taking advantage of SNB Capital’s expertise in terms of asset management.
The statement added that investing in disruptive industries will also pave the way for global growth and propel the Kingdom’s industry and investment landscape. The fund is seeking to achieve long-term capital growth while aligning well with the sustainability pillar of Saudi Vision 30.
“This fund provides our clients with a unique opportunity to access a best-in-class product that supports diversification and sustainability,” said SNB Capital CEO Rashed Sharif.
Founded in 2007, SNB Capital is one of the leading asset managers in Saudi Arabia, focusing on innovating and identifying opportunities in new industries and technologies that will augment the economy’s future and daily lives.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Stock Index on Wednesday fell flat to close at 10,276.94 points, swinging between a high of 10,323.38 at 10:10 a.m. Riyadh time and a low of 10,252.81 at 2.03 p.m.
It also booked a decline of 8.91 percent or 1,004.77 points in its year-to-date performance.
The lackluster show was predominant in the Gulf Cooperation Council region, where all the indices except one closed flat. Qatar Stock Exchange Index ended 33 points higher to close at 10,997.70 points.
“TASI moved sideways after the market traded in a tight range in line with the rest of the GCC markets that witnessed marginal changes during the day,” Junaid Ansari, head of investment strategy and research at Kamco Invest, told Arab News.
The advance-decline ratio, however, bucked the trend as 136 stocks of the listed 221 gained while 64 fell. The total trading turnover was SR3.54 billion ($940 million), down from Tuesday’s SR4.29 billion.
“A third consecutive gain in oil prices also failed to have a significant positive impact on the regional markets,” said Ansari.
Brent crude futures were up 93 cents at $80.92 a barrel by 1:30 p.m. Riyadh time, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 80 cents to $77.03. Both contracts had risen by more than $1 earlier in the session.
“Trading activity also remained subdued, possibly reflecting a seasonal slowdown toward the year’s end,” added Ansari.
The sectoral indices also gave a mixed response, showing minimal changes in indices. However, the Utilities Index registered the biggest decline of 1.3 percent, with four of the five constituent stocks witnessing declines.
Parallel market Nomu, however, rose 100.88 points to 18,751.78.
Meanwhile, SNB Capital, the lead manager of Saudi Aramco Base Oil Co., also known as Luberef, on Wednesday announced that its client completed the retail offering with a coverage ratio of 230.1 percent. The number of retail subscribers reached 524,800, with a total application value of about SR2.85 billion. A minimum of 10 shares were allocated per retail subscriber. The remaining shares will be issued on a pro-rata basis, based on the size of the demand of every subscriber to total shares.
Perfect Presentation for Commercial Services Co., also known as 2P, informed TASI that it had signed a joint strategic agreement with Huawei Co. Through this partnership, the company seeks to transfer knowledge and gain strength in network and infrastructure solutions, modern data center systems, video conferencing and online meetings, and renewable energy solutions. Consequently, the company’s share price rose 3.45 percent to finish at SR179.80.
The day’s highlight was definitely the dividend announcements from Arab National Bank and Alinma Bank. While ANB announced cash dividends of SR0.6 per share for the second half of 2022, Alinma Bank declared cash dividends of SR0.5 per share for the same period.
Al Hassan Ghazi Ibrahim Shaker Co. ruled the roost among the gainers, closing 7.52 percent up at SR20.30. The other top gainers of the day were Al-Rajhi Co. for Cooperative Insurance and Al Gassim Investment Holding Co.
The top losers included Tourism Enterprise Co., Alamar Foods Co., Riyadh Cables Group Co., and Almarai Co. ACWA Power Co. also lost 1.85 percent to close at SR148.60.
