If the behaviour is typical, the experience is invisible.

With rapid Digital Transformation initiatives, such as Saudi Vision 2030 and the UAE’ s digital government strategy, how is identity security evolving to support large-scale national transformation programmes?

Programs like Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 and the recent announcement from Dubai to consolidate all the government services requires unprecedented scale. It presents a significant challenge – onboarding millions of citizens and consumers with zero friction while simultaneously defending them against sophisticated AI attacks.

Security must be an enabler for these projects and these visions. By leveraging, for example, Okta Customer Identity and Access Management, governments can deploy out of the box, secure identity components. The key differentiator here is Okta’ s AI engines. At the moment of registration or login, AI evaluates the context and the telemetry silently, blocking malicious traffic.

Phishing-resistant authentication and passwordless strategies are gaining momentum. Are regional organisations ready for widespread passwordless adoption, and what practical steps should CISOs prioritise first?

The region is highly motivated in regard to passwordless systems, particularly because AIdriven phishing has rendered basic passwords and SMS-based MFA useless. However, passwordless adoption is not just about removing the password. It’ s about adding an intelligent context layer on top of your security.

Firstly, I think CISOs should deploy a bound identity device, such as Okta FastPass. This binds the user identity to their devices, stopping any man in the middle attacks. Second, they should enable AI-driven context. Let the machine learning continuously analyse the device posture, network location and behaviour; and if the AI detects any anomaly, it automatically stops the attacker. And

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