Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 74 | Page 71

Maher Jadallah , Senior Director Middle East and North Africa , Tenable
On the lighter side of things , we ask the industry experts what makes them tick . . . .

. . . GET TO KNOW . . .

Maher Jadallah , Senior Director Middle East and North Africa , Tenable

wWhat would you describe as your most memorable achievement ?

Honestly speaking , my joy comes from taking new companies with great vision to a totally new place , with an excellent footprint in the region , empowered by the best team and supported by a great partner network .
What first made you think of a career in technology ?
I ’ ve always been interested in technology , after all it touches all parts of our lives . It ’ s fast paced and innovative and I enjoy learning about new developments and how they can be used to enhance business operations or even our daily lives .
What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position ?
knowledge that I ’ m here if they need input , support or lead by example . We really are stronger together .
What do you think is the current hot technology talking point ?
Complexity is the enemy of security . It ’ s staggering when you think that the average large organisation uses more than 130 cybersecurity point solutions , each with its own analytics and reporting . Discrete tools can lead to duplicate efforts and unintended gaps in security programs . This leaves security practitioners with no clear path forward to tangibly reduce risk or succinctly communicate an organisation ’ s security posture .
Against this backdrop , when threat actors evaluate a company ’ s attack surface , they ’ re not thinking in terms of organisational silos . They ’ re probing for the right combination of vulnerabilities , misconfigurations and identity privileges .
Leadership is hard and requires a lot of agility and admitting mistakes . Believing in people , developing a great value of listening , open communication and promoting diversity are key values for a healthy work environment . For my team , I ’ m not a micro-manager but instead strive to create an environment where staff are empowered to do their best work , safe in the
Securing the modern attack surface requires a new approach , one that provides an understanding of all the conditions that matter in today ’ s complex and dynamic environments . Preventing cyberattacks requires full visibility into all assets and exposures , extensive context into potential security threats and clear metrics to objectively measure cyber-risk . Organisations
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