Fortinet to Showcase AI-Powered Cybersecurity and OT Resilience at GITEX 2025

Shadi Khuffash, Senior Regional Director for South Middle East at Fortinet, discusses how Fortinet’s AI-Powered SecOps, SASE, and OT security solutions are helping organisations in the region strengthen resilience, ensure data sovereignty, and accelerate secure digital transformation.

Tell us about your participation at GITEX 2025. How does this year’s presence differ from previous editions?
This year at GITEX, Fortinet will have a bigger presence than in previous years. We will host a larger booth in the Telco Hall (Hall 21, booth D20), which will feature demo pods, interactive showcases in addition to partner participation.

Which flagship products, solutions, or innovations will you be spotlighting at the event, and what makes them relevant to today’s tech challenges?
We will have a broad range of security products on show, addressing the fast evolving and increasingly complex cybersecurity challenges faced by organisations in the Middle East driven by digital transformation, advancement in AI and the evolving regulatory landscape. These include a demo kit for securing organisational technology (OT) infrastructure, Fortinet’s Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solution, cloud security, AI-Powered SecOps, as well as showcasing new services launched in the UAE, including Fortinet’s Sovereign SASE offering and our highly scalable multi-tenant security information and event management system FortiSIEM as a Service.

How would you describe the evolution of the regional tech ecosystem over the past two years, particularly in areas like AI, cybersecurity, and digital infrastructure?
Over the past two-years the UAE – and the region as a whole – has seen rapid advances across AI, cybersecurity and digital infrastructure. We have seen government agencies embed AI into services in various sectors including law enforcement and education. Moreover, a very interesting set of use cases were applied by banking and FSI organizations as well as in telecommunications, including chatbot and fraud detection systems.

On the other hand, cybersecurity demands have surged due the fast-paced development of technology adoption and increased use of AI. We are at a point in time where Local SOCs and MSSPs have grown, while enterprises have embraced zero-trust and SASE frameworks.

UAE is home to a number of the most prominent Hyperscalers. This, along with the astonishing accelerated rollout of 5G networks by local carries, has created a very flexible ecosystem for digital transformation and digital infrastructures that Overall, positioned and shifted the UAE from strategy to execution.

What emerging trends or technologies are you seeing gain traction in the Middle East, and how is your company responding to them?
Digital transformation has been a major trend in Middle Eastern organisations and in particular, the adoption of cloud for some workloads. As of late 2023, 59% of financial institutions had moved at least some processes to the cloud. This, alongside rapid developments in the field of AI, have expanded attack surfaces, leading to a significant increase in cyber threats in the region. Ransomware and advanced persistent threats (APTs) are among the most common types of attacks. In addition, sophisticated social engineering techniques, such as phishing emails, fake messages, and deepfake videos created using artificial intelligence, are rapidly becoming more widespread.

Fortinet’s comprehensive security solutions, including FortiCloud and FortiAI, allow organisations in the Middle East to embrace new technologies and transform their operations whilst being protected from existing and emerging threats and ensuring compliance with local legislation.

How have recent shifts in regulation, data governance, or sustainability goals influenced your regional strategy?
With the global political and economic landscape rapidly evolving, organisations face a growing array of cybersecurity threats and compliance complexities. At the same time, local data protection regulations create strict requirements around data governance that organisations in the UAE must navigate.

Fortinet addresses these challenges with its Sovereign SASE solution, which allows organisations to securely connect and protect users, applications, and data, regardless of location. It guarantees that data resides and is processed within specific geographical boundaries, providing complete control over sensitive data complying with regional data regulations.

What kind of interactive experiences—such as live demos, immersive showcases, or hands-on labs—can visitors expect at your booth this year?
Fortinet will be showcasing a broad range of security products covering the areas of organisational technology (OT), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), cloud security, AI-Powered SecOps and others. Two hands-on kits to highlight are:

1. Fortinet OT360 Demo Kit – A hands-on platform designed to demonstrate real-world cybersecurity use cases across critical industries. From oil and gas operations to power grids covering generation, transmission, and distribution, as well as water and wastewater facilities and modern transportation systems, this kit brings to life the threats and protections that matter most in operational technology environments. The OT360 Demo Kit highlights how Fortinet delivers unified visibility, risk management, and resilient security tailored to safeguard essential infrastructure that keeps our world running.
2. Mobile Secure Connectivity Kit – At GITEX, we are unveiling the Mobile Secure Connectivity Kit, a ruggedized field-ready solution designed to provide secure and reliable connectivity across multiple critical sectors. Built to operate in challenging environments, the kit enables fast and protected VPN communication from remote or hard-to-reach locations, ensuring uninterrupted access to critical systems and data. From emergency field operations and disaster recovery to maintenance and repair activities, cyber forensics in the field, and even secure hubs for VIP or special events, the Mobile Secure Connectivity Kit empowers industries such as oil and gas, power, water and wastewater, and transportation to maintain operational continuity and resilience under any conditions.