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Saturday, 7 November 2026
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Middle East · The Agent Economy

Gulf firms urged to close AI security gaps to boost cyber resilience

SANS Institute highlights governance, skill and threat gaps as AI spreads across government, finance and energy in the Gulf.

The Infercline Desk · Saturday, 7 November 2026 Sign in to save
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Ned Baltagi, managing director for the Middle East, Africa and Turkey at the SANS Institute, told TahawulTech that Gulf organisations are adopting AI faster than their security controls can keep up. He said AI is now embedded in government services, banks, energy firms and other critical infrastructure, creating new cyber‑risk exposure.

Baltagi explained the SANS AI Security Maturity Model, which assesses protection, utilisation and governance across five maturity levels. The model shows common gaps: limited visibility of AI deployments, weak data‑protection controls and a lack of documented policies and accountability. He urged firms to inventory every AI system, classify the data they handle and assign clear owners before moving models into production.

Why it matters to your business

Operators who ignore these gaps risk data breaches, regulatory penalties and service disruption to vital services. Weak AI governance also makes it harder to detect emerging threats such as prompt‑injection attacks or autonomous AI agents that could manipulate critical systems.

The skills shortage compounds the problem. SANS’ 2026 global research, cited by Baltagi, found 73% of security practitioners say training needs have changed because of AI. Without specialised talent, Gulf firms may struggle to implement the model’s recommended controls or to test AI systems against adversarial attacks.

What to do on Monday

  1. Run a quick AI inventory this week, list every model, the data it uses and who owns it.
  2. Adopt at least two of the five governance capabilities the SANS model recommends, such as documented AI policy and risk‑based assessments before deployment.
  3. Start a role‑based AI security training programme for your security team to cover model protection, prompt‑injection detection and AI‑driven threat hunting.

More on this topic: AI agent security and risk

Sources

Also reported by Computer Weekly.