Ethical Hacking as Strategy: How the Middle East is Moving from Cyber Defense to Cyber Readiness

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Organisations across the Middle East are adopting AI, blockchain, and other emerging technologies to enhance efficiency and drive economic growth. Yet even as the digital economy accelerates, it remains vulnerable to threats from increasingly agile, well-financed, and sophisticated cybercriminals. 

In the past year alone, the Middle East experienced a 77% increase in cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure, with the average cost of a data breach in the region reaching $8 million—one of the highest globally. To make matters worse, traditional security models are struggling to keep up and firewalls and compliance checklists are no longer enough.

For leaders navigating this threat-riddled digital boom, cybersecurity is not just an IT function but a board-level priority. Now, when organizations are required to think like attackers for defense, ethical hacking has become an essential and proactive strategy to protect against cyberattacks.

Also known as penetration testing or red teaming, ethical hacking flips the cybersecurity model. Instead of waiting for real attackers to exploit vulnerabilities, organizations now hire vetted professionals, more commonly called white-hat hackers, to first break into their own systems. These experts simulate the tactics of nation-state threat actors, ransomware groups, and insider threats to expose weak points before the damage is done.

Digital Expansion, Systemic Exposure

While digital infrastructure is expanding rapidly, it often lacks the maturity of more established global systems, making the region uniquely vulnerable.

“The primary threat in the MENA region is a systemic vulnerability: an immature yet rapidly expanding digital ecosystem being targeted by highly mature and well-equipped adversaries,” says Jonathan Silva, Security Researcher at Acronis TRU. “This includes state-sponsored cyber operations that leverage sophisticated capabilities for espionage and political pressure.”

Particularly concerning is the convergence of IT and OT in energy, government, and finance sectors. “The integration creates new entry points for attackers,” Silva says. To counter this, he adds, ethical hackers simulate the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of known APT groups like MuddyWater and OilRig to test resilience against state-level adversaries.

This adversary emulation is more nuanced than traditional penetration testing. Using frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK, Silva says Acronis models real-world campaigns across entire kill chains, from initial compromise to exfiltration, giving organizations a chance to test their detection, response, and recovery capabilities under realistic conditions.

When Bug Bounties and Red Teams Collaborate

Regional governments are responding with scale and seriousness. Saudi Arabia’s Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST), in partnership with the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP), launched a national bug bounty program for private sector enterprises. Over 600 verified vulnerabilities have been reported in its early phases, strengthening the security of participating organizations.

In the UAE, the National Bug Bounty Program has become a centerpiece of the national cyber strategy. At GISEC 2022, over 100 vetted hackers participated in live simulations, probing autonomous vehicle platforms, drone networks, and telecom infrastructure, furthering the region’s commitment to open, responsible disclosure.

Beyond surface-level testing, private firms are advancing the offensive security agenda. OPSWAT’s Unit 515, an elite red team, specializes in hybrid attack simulation and blends cyber and physical vectors to replicate complex threat environments.

“Cyber threats to critical sectors demand tailored red teaming,” says Loc Nguyen, Pentesting Team Leader at OPSWAT. “Oil & Gas faces APTs that target ICS and SCADA systems, while utilities are vulnerable to ransomware. Transportation faces risks like GPS spoofing and data manipulation in logistics platforms.”

Nguyen emphasizes the importance of realistic simulation. “Hybrid attack simulations are essential when combined with cyber and physical vectors. Red teams must emulate long-dwell adversaries, test IT/OT segmentation, simulate supply chain attacks, and model critical service outages.”

Even in “air-gapped” environments, Nguyen says isolation is often overstated. “We demonstrate how data still flows between IT and OT via legacy systems, vendor access, or shared dashboards. We simulate malware entry via phishing or USBs, pivot across segmented networks, and test telemetry abuse through replayed or malformed protocol traffic.”

Identity Weaknesses and the Zero-Trust Fallacy

Weak identity and access management (IAM) is among the most common and dangerous vulnerabilities in regional enterprises. Fletcher Davis, Director of Research at BeyondTrust, says that overly permissive accounts, a lack of MFA, and privilege escalation paths are too common.

“Many of these misconfigurations are linked to service accounts that often have elevated privileges and lack security controls,” Davis says. “In the hands of an attacker, these unknown privilege paths become major threats.”

Ethical hacking is needed to validate so-called zero-trust architectures. “Operators simulate bypassing MFA, exploit misconfigurations, and attempt lateral movement to test micro-segmentation and privilege enforcement. This hands-on validation reveals whether zero trust is truly enforced or merely aspirational,” adds Davis.

Compliance Meets Capability

With regional regulations tightening, Saudi Arabia’s National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA) controls, the UAE’s National Electronic Security Authority (NESA) mandates, and sector-specific standards in finance and utilities, experts say ethical hacking must now balance effectiveness and compliance.

“Data sovereignty laws introduce significant legal challenges,” says Davis. “You can’t exfiltrate even dummy data across borders without violating local laws. Command and control (C2) infrastructure must be based in-country, and social engineering must be culturally sensitive and legally vetted.”

Nguyen echoes this need for regional alignment. “Our MetaDefender platform maps directly to NCA and NESA requirements, and our red team assessments validate compliance by testing for protocol misuse, secure data flow enforcement, and segmentation integrity. Clients get both resilience and audit-ready proof points.”

Acronis, for its part, ensures compliance through strict adherence to ISO/IEC 27001, NIST guidelines, and contractual scope definitions. “We start every engagement with explicit authorization, governed by confidentiality and data protection clauses,” Silva says. “Our public bug bounty on HackerOne and CNA status reinforce our commitment to responsible security.”

AI and Adversary Emulation at Scale

Across the board, AI is now a strategic asset in ethical hacking operations. Davis says, “AI reduces manual effort in tasks like reconnaissance or credential hunting. It allows red teams to develop tools faster, focus on creative exploitation, and scale their operations more efficiently.”

OPSWAT’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Lab uses simulated IT/OT environments to test malware prevention and secure workflow controls under adversary pressure. At Acronis, the TRU team’s research on ransomware campaigns targeting Managed Service Providers (MSPs) led to the development of new detection rules, which are now integrated into the company’s Cyber Protect Cloud platform.

“We found ransomware groups using MSPs as attack vectors,” Silva says. “Our analysis directly improved our platform’s anti-ransomware capabilities—instantly protecting regional partners and the businesses they serve.”

Building Offensive Capacity for Defensive Resilience

Ethical hacking is proving to be a powerful equalizer as the cyber threat landscape in the Middle East continues to evolve, driven by geopolitical complexity, digital acceleration, and infrastructure convergence.

White-hat hackers are not just testers but threat hunters, educators, and policy influencers. “They’re shifting from a reactive model to a proactive, adversary-centric one,” says Silva. “This ‘predict and prevent’ approach, powered by threat intelligence and community collaboration, is helping organizations stay one step ahead.”

Whether through AI-enhanced red teaming, compliance-aligned penetration testing, or public bug bounty programs, the region is embracing a future where cyber resilience is built by defending systems and attacking them first.

“By combining prevention technologies, compliance-aligned red teaming, and continuous threat intelligence, we can shift from simply reacting to threats to anticipating and neutralizing them before they happen,” says Nguyen.

In the Middle East, where the margin for error is measured in energy outages, financial disruption, or national security risk, a proactive shift isn’t just wise—it’s imperative.