Beacon Red

UAE
How the Wegener-Jayaraman duo extended their cyber empire to the UAE

Heading up a small conglomerate of cyber firms in Singapore, Barcelona and Cyprus, the duo Ralf Wegener and Ramanan Jayaraman have managed to implant their technologies in the UAE. Through Variston IT, they've grown close to the country's key cyber player.

India, Israel
Israeli OSINT firm Cyberglobes prospects in India

Israel's Cyberglobes, a particularly active exporter of open source intelligence solutions despite its ban from Facebook and other US platforms, has recently been prospecting in India.

UAE
CPX struggles to spearhead UAE's cyberoffensive operations

Supposed to be the UAE's new cyberintelligence flagship, CPX is struggling to make its mark and hold on to contracts because of technological gaps at a time when other parapublic cyber firms are gaining ground.

UAE
UAE's Edge Group and G42 get into natural language processing

Natural language processing, popularised by ChatGPT, is of particular interest to the UAE's security apparatus conglomerates for their big data and open source intelligence (OSINT) programmes. The technology also promises to offer new firms in the sector a means to conduct low-cost influence operations.

UAE
Influx of Russian hackers benefits Abu Dhabi's cyber offensive capabilities

Beacon Red, the Edge Group conglomerate's Emirati cyber subsidiary, has hired a wave of cyber engineers fleeing Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. Intelligence Online understands the Russian recruits are being housed on a site separate from the rest of the company.

UAE
OryxLabs, shelter for ex-DarkMatter and Digital14 cyber specialists

The Abu Dhabi-based OryxLabs' Abu Dhabi office is building a team of battle-hardened cyber-attack experts to pitch its zero-day exploit hunting and DNS cybersecurity services in the Middle East.

Turkey, UAE
Turkish cyber provider Pavo Group goes door knocking in UAE

Pavo Group, chaired by Alper Ozbilen, wants to stretch its horizons beyond its home turf. It is working on new interception and big data tools, and has made contact with the UAE's main defence conglomerates.

Kazakhstan, UAE
Kazakhstan's Butterfly Effect aims to get into the Gulf via partnerships with UAE's state-owned cyber groups

Kazakh interceptions firm Butterfly Effect is looking for partners in the UAE to help it win public sector contracts in the Middle East.

UAE
EDGE Group beefs up export apparatus

The part-publicly owned conglomerate has set up a new global division to handle exports, while building import channels for its cyber cluster.

France, UAE
French bug bounty hunters free to export their services unrestricted

Despite the tightening of checks on exports of dual-use goods, French firms that specialise in finding vulnerabilities in computer-system security are still free to export their services - even though their findings risk being misused by clients.

The Tech Times
Hagenah joins HackerOne tech council, Nachmani moves from ACE Labs to Nanolock, Infodas lands German frigate contract, Group-IB's Jurcenoks goes solo

Whether in SIGINT, GEOINT, OSINT or cyber, we report each week on developments great and small in the world of technical intelligence providers.

San FranciscoFormer Finfisher tech director Alexander Hagenah joins HackOne's tech council.

HerzliyaErez Nachmani moves from ACE Labs to NanoLock Security.

CologneInfodas to provide cyber defences for new German frigates.

SacramentoEx-Group-IB cybersecurity chief sets up his own consulting firm

France, UAE
Reem Lababidi crafts Franco-Emrati cyber contracts

Reem Lababidi, a UAE cyber deals specialist, is taking on new French companies looking to export to the Middle East, where defensive and offensive capacities are much in demand.

France, UAE
CybelAngel targets sovereign UAE market from new Dubai base

After two years of working in the Gulf, CybelAngel is opening an outpost in Dubai where it is looking to gain a more solid footing in the UAE's part-public cyber sector, prey to internal power struggles.

UAE
Digital14 poised for takeover by Edge Group

With his takeover of the country's security sector complete, the UAE's National Security Adviser Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan is about to make Digital14, owned by ADQ, a part of Edge Group's Electronic Warfare & Cyber Technologies cluster.

UAE
Former FinFisher boss gives boost to Abu Dhabi's new rising star

After years running Germany's FinFisher Labs, Carlos Gandini moved into consultancy and is now providing his expertise to the UAE's latest cyber intelligence unit, CPX.

Turkey, UAE
Edge Group central to Turkey-UAE cyber rapprochement

The UAE and Turkey have several defence bilateral cooperation projects in the works, and are tentatively exploring cyber cooperation, which might be a way for Abu Dhabi's Edge Group to reestablish itself in the cyber-offensive sector.

UAE, United States
Washington focuses on Talal Al Kaissi in its new UAE cloud offensive

Appointed head of G42 Cloud in January, Talal Al Kaissi has been receptive to a charm offensive by US companies and that of their business contacts, providing a ray of hope for Washington that's alarmed by the inroads into the UAE by China's Huawei.

UAE
UAE cyber offensive champion CPX hit by intrusion as internal power battle rages around it

Despite the attribution of control of the UAE's cyber offensive capacity to Group 42 company CPX, sovereign fund Tawazun has not given up its battle to take charge of the national cyber intelligence sector. Meanwhile, CPX executives are trying to hide the fact that the company has suffered its first attack.

Spotlight | UAE
Tahnoon places his cronies to spearhead cyber offensive flagship CPX

Abu Dhabi's national security adviser is readying Digital 14 spinoff CPX's troops for battle by appointing four UAE cyber sector strongmen to its board, strengthening connections to Group 42.