Oracle plans to enhance cyber security measures in the Middle East and expand cloud footprint

Company aims to have 20 cloud regions in the area out of over 160 globally by next year

Richard Smith, Oracle's executive vice president, technology, for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Photo: Oracle

The US-based cloud computing firm Oracle is bolstering its cyber security capabilities and intensifying its efforts to combat the escalating cyber threats in the Middle East.

The Texas-based company said the latest measures are aimed at safeguarding the data of its customers, as cyber attacks continue to rise in the Middle East while expanding its presence in the region.

Oracle aims to have 20 fully deployed cloud regions, each housing at least two data centres, in the Middle East and Africa out of over 160 globally by next year, Richard Smith, Oracle's executive vice president (technology) for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said in an interview.

The region faces an increasingly “complex threat landscape”, with hundreds of thousands of cyber attacks targeting networks daily, Mr Smith told The National on the sidelines of the recently concluded Oracle CloudWorld conference in Las Vegas.

Oracle’s “zero-trust security model is at the forefront of our strategy” and is “designed to withstand even the most sophisticated attacks in the region”, ensuring no data leakage and full sovereignty over customer information.

Zero-trust is a cyber security framework that operates on the principle of 'never trust, always verify'.

“We are constantly vigilant. Safeguarding our customers’ data is sacrosanct to us,” Mr Smith said.

“Given the magnitude of bad actors, you cannot have anything other than a zero-trust environment … one of our top priorities is to ensure that we never misstep with our customers' data and confidential information.

“We never get the keys to your data … the location of your data in the cloud is critical, as is the security applied to it. In regions like the Middle East, the landscape is particularly complex, and navigating it requires an acute understanding of local regulations and sensitivities.”

The average cost of a data breach in the Middle East rose by 8.4 per cent annually to $8.75 million in 2024, according to a study by IBM. The region is the second most expensive in the world for data breaches, after the US, where the average cost is $9.36 million.

According to the World Economic Forum’s 2023 global risks report, widespread cyber crime and cyber insecurity were among the top 10 global risks in the short and long term, when ranked by 1,200 experts across academia, business, government and civil society.

Oracle serves various local customers in the region including du, DP World, e&, Abu Dhabi Customs, Saudi Railways, Neom, Saudi Arabia Tourism Development Fund, Saudi Arabia Mining Company, Mashreq and Emirates Post.

It has its dedicated cloud regions in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and South Africa, with plans to open new complexes in Morocco.

Last week, the company announced a new feature in its cloud service to strengthen data security by separating network security from the cloud architecture, preventing unauthorised access. It allows businesses to set strict rules to control network traffic and reduce the risk of errors that lead to data breaches.

Oracle is also looking to expand in the region by partnering with government-owned companies, as this approach can help build market trust more easily.

“The rate of technology and AI deployment in the Middle East is accelerating, and we are also pursuing an aggressive approach to expand our presence in the region,” said Mr Smith, who considers the UAE and Saudi Arabia – the Arab world’s biggest economies – as “extremely important” markets in the region.

“We are continuously investing to ensure our technology is the latest and we are ahead in the industry,” he added, without disclosing the company’s actual investment in the region.

In February last year, Oracle announced its plans to invest $1.5 billion in Saudi Arabia to grow its cloud computing capacity.

Oracle has also partnered with local enterprises such as UAE telco du, Injazat, a technology business that is part of Abu Dhabi's artificial intelligence company G42, and Saudi Telecom Company to build sovereign cloud capabilities and dedicated cloud regions specifically for government entities in the Middle East.

The cloud region will give these organisations access to Oracle's cloud applications and infrastructure that comply with top regulatory standards and local laws.

The global cloud computing market size was estimated at $602.31 billion last year and is predicted to surge at a compound annual growth rate of 21.2 per cent from 2024 to 2030, according to a report by Grand View Research.

In the cloud industry, businesses pay only for the selective services or resources they use over time. For businesses, moving to a cloud system hosted by a specialised company is more economical than creating their infrastructure of servers, hardware and security networks. It also brings down the overall cost of ownership.

“We are constantly scanning the market for new business opportunities … we look for partners who have strong values … it's not just a matter of Oracle earning from one country, but it is actually a matter of Oracle making major investments in the economy and building its sovereign cloud capabilities,” Mr Smith said.