New OTMEC Initiative Launches to Strengthen Industrial Cybersecurity Across Middle East and North Africa

The Operational Technology Middle East Community (OTMEC) has officially launched as a dedicated regional initiative focused on advancing industrial control systems (ICS) and operational technology (OT) cybersecurity throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The initiative’s co-founders include Reem Faraj AlShammari, Bryson Bort, Thomas VanNorman, Saltanat Mashirova, and Michael Hoffman, with an advisory board featuring prominent figures such as Robert M. Lee and Tim Conway.

OTMEC’s mission centers on fostering vendor-neutral knowledge exchange, building and supporting the OT security workforce, and driving collaboration, innovation, and protection of critical infrastructure across the region. The community provides a platform for ICS and OT cybersecurity professionals to share insights, best practices, and lessons learned, aiming to strengthen workforce training and encourage cohesive industry-wide engagement.

Prior to OTMEC’s formation, the region faced significant challenges including siloed knowledge-sharing among asset owners, vendors, and national bodies, absence of a vendor-neutral OT/ICS community, and a lack of structured mentorship and development pathways for the OT workforce. Critical infrastructure sectors often operated independently without exchanging operational lessons, while rapid digital transformation outpaced security maturity.

Supported by co-founders alongside ICS Village and Women in CyberSecurity Middle East (WiCSME)—communities known for hands-on education and empowerment—OTMEC positions the Middle East as a key driver of industrial cybersecurity excellence. The leadership emphasized that OTMEC’s long-term vision extends beyond regional boundaries, inspired by WiCSME’s global growth, aiming to develop a five-year blueprint for a globally connected OT community that creates opportunities, shapes best practices, and raises awareness worldwide.

The Middle East’s unique combination of industrial intensity, rapid digital transformation, and heightened geopolitical threats underscores the critical importance of OT and ICS cybersecurity in the region. OTMEC focuses on core challenges such as legacy and heterogeneous industrial systems that are difficult to patch, monitor, or secure consistently across large-scale operations.

Additional challenges include rapid IT/OT convergence and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) expansion, which increase the attack surface and introduce new cyber-physical risks. A shortage of OT-experienced cybersecurity professionals creates gaps in incident response, architecture design, and risk management. Fragmented approaches among operators, vendors, and regulators limit the region’s ability to respond cohesively to sophisticated threats.

OTMEC also addresses the lack of structured mentorship and community-driven knowledge transfer, especially for early-career professionals, and uneven awareness at executive and policy levels, where OT risks may not receive adequate urgency. The leadership noted that while not the primary driver of current challenges, the region’s increasing adoption of AI-enabled monitoring, predictive maintenance, and digital twins introduces additional considerations around data integrity, system trust boundaries, and operational validation.

These emerging technologies are incorporated into OTMEC’s dialogues and workforce initiatives to ensure organizations remain future-ready. By aligning practitioners and decision-makers around shared challenges and solutions, OTMEC aims to elevate regional OT readiness, strengthen competency, and enhance industrial resilience across the Middle East.

Designed as a collaboration engine, OTMEC aligns the entire OT ecosystem in the region through a vendor-neutral membership model open to practitioners, operators, vendors, regulators, and academia. The initiative offers technical workshops, training, and hands-on events supported by ICS Village, and partners with regional cybersecurity conferences, including its launch at BlackHat MEA. Online collaboration channels facilitate continuous discussion and cross-border knowledge exchange.

Mentorship programs, modeled after WiCSME’s successful approach, aim to cultivate the next generation of OT security professionals. Working groups and advisory oversight develop practical, community-driven guidance, while constructive engagement with national cyber authorities helps shape policies grounded in operational realities.

OTMEC measures its impact through community growth and diversity across sectors, disciplines, and countries; participation and outcomes from events and training; workforce development metrics such as certifications and career progression; and adoption of community-generated best practices within member organizations. Engagement from regulators and national authorities, along with operator feedback demonstrating improved preparedness and resilience, also serve as key indicators.

The leadership concluded, “Ultimately, OTMEC’s success will be measured by whether our community strengthens industrial resilience, reduces operational risk, and advances regional and global standards for OT security. We want to evolve from a regional hub into a globally connected OT community shaping the future of industrial cybersecurity worldwide.”