Saudi cybersecurity company CQR has signed a Master Services Agreement with sirar by stc to collaborate on protecting operational technology (OT), Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT environments.
The partnership combines CQR’s Saudi-developed industrial cybersecurity platform, FENNEC, with sirar by stc’s managed cybersecurity capabilities. FENNEC is designed to give security teams visibility into critical assets, monitor industrial processes, support compliance and prioritise risks based on their potential operational impact.
The companies said the collaboration could include a sovereign, AI-enabled OT and IoT Cybersecurity Monitoring and Assurance Center in Saudi Arabia. AI would support alert analysis and investigations, while decisions affecting production would remain under expert human oversight.
Another proposed initiative is a laboratory for assessing the security of industrial hardware, firmware and connected devices. Potential services could also cover OT and IoT maturity assessments, regulatory gap analysis, secure architecture design, managed monitoring, threat hunting, incident response, training and knowledge transfer.
CQR said FENNEC is compatible with Saudi Arabia’s emerging 450 MHz industrial communications networks and can monitor OT, IoT and IIoT assets operating across them.
The agreement supports the localisation of cybersecurity technology and expertise, although the monitoring centre, laboratory and other elements remain subject to further agreements.
Source: MEA Tech Watch
