Osama Alzoubi, who leads the Middle East and Africa region for Phosphorus Cybersecurity, emphasizes that cyber threats across the GCC are accelerating at an unprecedented pace. This surge is being driven by three converging forces: the rapid expansion of connected devices, the surge of AI-generated cyberattacks, and the broad accessibility of plug-and-play hacking tools. The region’s critical infrastructure—from airport surveillance systems to smart oil refinery sensors—now relies heavily on xIoT, the extended network of devices that spans printers, displays, drones, robotics, and far more. Disturbingly, Gulf enterprises are averaging 13 xIoT devices for every traditional IT asset, with many devices designed without security in mind from the outset. Generative AI has transformed the threat landscape by enabling even less-skilled actors to conduct sophisticated campaigns. AI-written malware can adapt in real time, leveraging natural language interfaces to craft polymorphic code and develop tailored exploits. These innovations drastically lower the technical entry barrier and permit anyone with access to malware-as-a-service platforms to compromise endpoints—whether it’s a thermostat exposed to the internet, a printer with outdated firmware, or an unsecured smart camera. For CISOs and decision-makers across the region, the message is clear: xIoT represents the most vulnerable flank of our digital infrastructure. Without rapid adoption of intelligent, automated defenses tailored to this unique attack surface, there is a real risk of catastrophic disruption to our most vital systems.
The Escalating xIoT Risk in the GCC: Volume, Diversity, and Urgency
The GCC’s xIoT risk posture is defined by three intertwined dynamics: scale, heterogeneity, and invisibility. The scale is not merely large; it is multiplicative. In healthcare, manufacturing, energy, transportation, and municipal services, thousands upon thousands of devices—from infusion pumps and imaging equipment to digital signage and environmental sensors—operate in close proximity and in often mission-critical roles. This volume makes comprehensive security management a mechanical challenge rather than a technological curiosity. The diversity of devices compounds the problem. Unlike traditional IT ecosystems, which tend to revolve around a relatively narrow set of vendors and platforms, xIoT ecosystems comprise devices from hundreds of manufacturers. Each device may run its own firmware, implement its own communication protocol, and follow a distinct update cadence. There is no industry-wide standardization, no universal language, and no room for error. The consequences of miscoordination are severe: misconfigurations, vulnerable firmware, and default credentials become persistent gateways for attackers to traverse from a compromised device to more sensitive assets in the network.
The third and equally troubling dimension is invisibility. Many xIoT devices run on lightweight firmware or embedded systems that do not expose themselves through familiar endpoints or standard management interfaces. Traditional IT tools, designed to detect and remediate Windows or Linux-based endpoints, frequently fail to identify or neuter these devices. In practice, you cannot simply deploy an agent on every node, you cannot rely on standard scanners, and most devices remain unmanaged until a breach exposes their weaknesses. This combination of scale, fragmentation, and lack of visibility creates an operational nightmare. An individual IT professional traditionally could manage a few hundred endpoints, but applying the same approach to xIoT would demand hundreds of specialists. In the Gulf’s context, where cybersecurity talent is in high demand and supply remains constrained, this is an unsustainable model. The net effect is that breaches—whether opportunistic or targeted—can propagate quietly and escalate quickly, often through non-traditional entry points like a printer with default credentials, a CCTV with an unpatched firmware image, or a smart HVAC panel with an insecure configuration. These gateways, when exploited, can become footholds that allow attackers to move laterally into core facilities or to compromise high-value systems with alarming ease.
Throughout 2025, the GCC witnessed a string of breaches that underscored these dynamics. In several incidents, attackers exploited outdated firmware and preserved default credentials to advance within networks. A printer running legacy software, for example, was leveraged to reach and influence a building’s control systems. In another scenario, exposed security cameras in a smart city project were hijacked via open ports and default usernames and passwords. The prevalence of such attack vectors—tied to seemingly innocuous devices—highlights the vulnerability of the entire ecosystem when even one device is left poorly secured. A broader trend emerged: IT teams often deprioritize updates for peripheral devices like printers, which creates sizable windows of opportunity for attackers. These realities collectively constitute a clarion call for a new, more intelligent approach to securing xIoT at scale.
The gulf between traditional IT security methodologies and the needs of xIoT security is not just technical—it’s strategic. Organizations must adopt governance models that account for the complexity and diversity of devices, implement automated remediation that can operate at machine speed, and create oversight mechanisms that provide continuous assurance across millions of devices. The urgency is not abstract. It is practical, rooted in the realization that the very fabric of modern Gulf cities and critical industries depends on a resilient and securely managed xIoT ecosystem.
The AI Threat Landscape and Human Barriers to Security
Generative AI has radically altered the threat landscape by enabling the creation of sophisticated, adaptable malware that can be customized in real time. The barrier to entry for cybercrime has collapsed as attackers leverage AI-driven tools to craft polymorphic payloads, evade signature-based defenses, and tailor exploits to specific device types or firmware versions. The combination of AI-powered attack platforms and ubiquitous xIoT devices means threats can be more targeted, more autonomous, and more damaging than ever before. In many cases, attackers can deploy malware that learns from its environment and alters its behavior to avoid detection, increasing dwell time and the potential impact of each intrusion.
This shift has significant implications for Gulf CISOs and security teams. Traditional defense-in-depth strategies—where continuous monitoring, patching, and access control form the core—must be reimagined for an era where devices outnumber endpoints by orders of magnitude and firmware lifecycles outlast typical operating systems. The democratization of attack tools accelerates risk in every sector, from public infrastructure and healthcare to finance and manufacturing. The consequence is a security landscape that demands precision, speed, and scale in defense—capabilities that are difficult to achieve with manual processes and conventional tooling alone.
The practical reality is that many organizations in the Gulf rely on devices that operate with constrained compute, use proprietary communications protocols, and have lifespans spanning years or even decades. Ownership and accountability for these devices are often diffuse, and ongoing monitoring for security hygiene has been inconsistent. In this environment, AI-enabled defensive solutions must complement human expertise rather than replace it. The goal is to empower security teams to inventory, assess risk, remediate vulnerabilities, and enforce policies across millions of devices with enhanced speed and accuracy. A forward-looking approach couples AI-driven discovery and risk assessment with human-guided policy design and AI-powered automation for enforcement and remediation. This synergy enables scales of operation and levels of precision that would be unattainable through manual work alone.
The Complexity Challenge of xIoT: Fragmentation, Scale, and Operational Strain
At the heart of the xIoT challenge lies fragmentation—an ecosystem where hundreds of manufacturers contribute devices with unique hardware characteristics, firmware versions, and update cadences. In a typical Gulf facility, these devices can include everything from medical sensors and industrial controllers to consumer-grade devices embedded in office ecosystems. The result is a lack of standardization that complicates the deployment of uniform security controls. In such environments, traditional security solutions struggle to keep pace with the risk posture. They often depend on agents, on centralized management points, or on network flows that may not exist for devices that operate in isolated segments or remote locations. When you combine fragmentation with the scale of xIoT deployments, you get an operational paradigm that demands new governance, new tooling, and new collaboration models between IT, security, facilities, and operations teams.
The practical consequences are visible in the real world. Security teams are forced to balance competing priorities: maintaining uptime, ensuring safety, and enforcing security at velocity. The risk of disrupting critical operations during remediation is non-trivial, particularly in healthcare, energy, and transportation sectors where uptime translates into lives saved or economic resilience. Traditional methods that attempt to apply a one-size-fits-all approach to firmware patching or credential rotation often fail. You can’t push a standard agent onto every device, and you can’t scan or patch devices that lack straightforward interfaces. The result is a patchwork of controls that leaves numerous devices unmanaged and vulnerable. This is the operational reality that requires a new class of security tooling—solutions designed to handle millions of devices, across heterogenous platforms, with minimal disruption to ongoing operations.
The GCC’s regional security leaders recognize that the gap between current capabilities and the needs of xIoT security cannot be bridged with incremental improvements alone. The goal is to achieve a state of continuous posture monitoring at scale, with automated remediation that can operate across diverse device types and firmware versions. To reach this objective, the industry must embrace capabilities like safe discovery of millions of devices, automatic risk scoring, context-rich device profiling, and scalable remediation actions—such as firmware patching, credential rotation, and misconfiguration corrections—executed without requiring agents or invasive network traffic that could threaten operations. The path forward demands not only advanced technology but also robust governance, clear accountability, and enforceable policies that align with national infrastructure protection objectives.
Intelligent Active Discovery and the Phosphorus Platform: A New Layer of Defense
Phosphorus has envisioned and engineered a security platform that redefines how xIoT security is delivered. The platform emphasizes simplicity, scalability, and surgical precision, delivering defense at machine speed without disrupting the network, without adding hardware, agents, or mirrored traffic. It positions intelligent protection as a real-time capability that scales with the needs of modern, hyper-connected environments. The core of this approach is Intelligent Active Discovery, a capability that safely scans vast swaths of the network to identify connected devices efficiently and securely. It interrogates each endpoint to determine the protocol in use, uncovers whether a device operates with default credentials, and builds comprehensive device profiles that include vendor, model, firmware version, and exposed ports. This level of detail enables precise risk assessment and targeted remediation.
The Phosphorus Enterprise Platform extends beyond mere visibility. It empowers security and IT teams to execute scalable remediation across the entire extended IoT portfolio. The platform supports firmware patching, credential rotation, and configuration corrections at machine scale. It provides a robust foundation for a future in which smart cities, autonomous systems, AI-enabled healthcare, and hyper-connected enterprises are powered by a secure, observable xIoT ecosystem. The platform’s architecture is designed to operate with minimal disruption—there’s no need for additional hardware on the network, no reliance on agents, and no requirement for mirrored traffic that could impact performance. Instead, it uses intelligent discovery and AI-driven analytics to deliver real-time visibility and continuous posture monitoring.
A critical strength of the Phosphorus platform is its ability to identify specific vulnerabilities and to prioritize risk based on real-time data about outdated firmware, default credentials, insecure configurations, and gaps in digital certificates. Automated remediation capabilities enable organizations to rotate credentials, patch firmware, and quarantine or isolate vulnerable assets when necessary. This approach transforms the security posture from a reactive posture to a proactive, preventive one. It also helps address the staffing reality in the region: with automation handling repetitive, high-volume tasks, security personnel can shift toward strategic activities such as risk assessment, threat hunting, and policy refinement. In short, the platform translates a manpower challenge into an opportunity for more effective, strategic defense.
The vision extends beyond the technology itself to a governance and operations paradigm. Phosphorus emphasizes that the challenge of xIoT security is not purely technical; it is organizational. The platform supports auditing, policy enforcement, and governance at scale, aligning with the increasing demands of national infrastructure protection. As nations in the Gulf accelerate digital infrastructure and smart city initiatives, Phosphorus positions itself as a partner that can deliver cyber-physical resilience to CISOs, CIOs, and government leaders charged with safeguarding national assets and critical systems. The overarching narrative is that security must move at the speed and scale of the devices it protects, and AI-powered, agentless, automated remediation is a core part of achieving that objective.
The Gulf’s Smart Cities: Airports, Urban Networks, and Secure Digital Transformation
Over the past decade, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have emerged as global leaders in smart services and smart city innovation. Their airports stand as high-profile exemplars of how xIoT can be orchestrated to deliver rapid, precise, and secure passenger experiences. Biometric check-ins, AI-powered immigration gates, real-time baggage tracking, and autonomous kiosks illustrate a layer of interconnected devices designed for speed, reliability, and safety. The dense network of devices—planned to work in concert—drives a frictionless experience that embodies national ambition and a commitment to becoming a global benchmark for smart mobility. The airport sector thus serves as both a catalyst for adoption and a proving ground for security practices that can scale to broader urban contexts.
But the reach of xIoT in the Gulf extends far beyond transit hubs. The smart city paradigm is rapidly expanding into urban cores, with IoT and xIoT devices forming the digital backbone of modern infrastructure. These devices power adaptive traffic management systems that learn from congestion patterns and reroute in real time, while also enabling predictive energy management by monitoring and adjusting consumption across city grids. They support waste management, water conservation, environmental sensing, and digital public safety networks. From connected streetlights that react to movement to smart parking systems that guide drivers to available spaces, the modern Gulf city is a living network of device-enabled intelligence. In Riyadh, Jeddah, Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi, the vision of intelligent urban living extends beyond airports to comprehensive city-wide connectivity. Traffic optimization, utility management, emergency response support, energy grid monitoring, and AI-assisted coordination of services create a comprehensive, responsive, and resilient urban fabric. This digital evolution rests on a foundation of strategic investments, public-private partnerships, and leadership that views the GCC’s digital transition not as a reaction to the future but as an intentional construction of it.
The Gulf’s smart city trajectory is inseparable from its commitment to governance, risk management, and regulatory alignment. It requires an integrated approach that spans technology, policy, and operations. Smart city initiatives rely on a network of devices operating in real time, exchanging data, and triggering actions that impact the safety, efficiency, and quality of life for citizens. In this context, it is essential to implement governance frameworks that can enforce security policies across millions of device types. The Gulf’s smart city programs demonstrate how national ambitions can be translated into secure, scalable, and sustainable digital ecosystems, while also underscoring the imperative to protect critical infrastructure from evolving cyber threats. The outcome is not only better services and more resilient urban systems but also a model for how regional leadership can harmonize innovation with comprehensive security and risk governance.
Governance, Policy, and the Imperative for xIoT Security
Governments across the Gulf have established a framework for cybersecurity leadership that recognizes the unique challenges posed by xIoT. In Saudi Arabia, the National Cybersecurity Authority is charting a course toward robust governance through guidelines such as the Cybersecurity Guidelines for IoT (CGIoT), Essential Cybersecurity Controls (ECC), and OT Cybersecurity Controls (OTCC). The United Arab Emirates has its Cybersecurity Council, which is actively guiding the protection of digital services and critical infrastructure. These governance bodies underscore the necessity of formal auditing, enforceable policies, and clear accountability in an environment where devices proliferate and the attack surface expands daily. However, the reality of risk remains that every security camera, connected medical device, or industrial sensor can serve as a potential entry point for attackers.
The evolving threat landscape demands governance that is proactive, measurable, and enforceable. It requires auditing frameworks that can verify compliance across millions of devices and devices’ lifecycles that can span many years. In other words, policy must be designed with the same scale and velocity as the xIoT networks it seeks to protect. This requires a shift from traditional, IT-centric security controls to a governance model that integrates security into the entire lifecycle of devices—from procurement and deployment to maintenance and decommissioning. As Gulf nations accelerate digital infrastructure, it is imperative that policy frameworks explicitly address the risks associated with xIoT, including device provenance, firmware integrity, cryptographic hygiene, secure credential management, and continuous monitoring. The objective is not merely compliance but resilient, auditable operations that can withstand the pressures of a rapidly evolving threat landscape.
AI will redefine cybersecurity resilience by enabling automated, scalable defense across xIoT environments. The sheer diversity and volume of devices—often with limited compute capability and proprietary protocols—make human-centric security operations impractical at scale. Ownership of devices is frequently unclear, maintenance is inconsistent, and security hygiene has historically been uneven. Phosphorus’s approach envisions a future where AI-powered device discovery, risk assessment, and remediation are standard practice. An AI-driven platform can manage device inventories, assess risk with deep contextual insights, and define enforcement policies that are then executed by AI-powered automation. The Intelligent Active Discovery engine enables precision in device identification and grading of risk at unprecedented scale, enabling real-time visibility and continuous posture monitoring across xIoT environments. Vulnerabilities are prioritized according to the risk they pose, including issues such as outdated firmware, default credentials, insecure configurations, and certificate gaps. Automated remediation capabilities then enable organizations to rotate credentials, patch firmware, and quarantine vulnerable assets, ensuring rapid containment and rapid restoration of secure state. The vision is a future in which security operations shift from a static, reactive posture to a dynamic, proactive, and scalable security paradigm that keeps pace with the rapid expansion of xIoT.
This shift toward AI-driven security is not merely an upgrade to technology—it represents a transformation in how nations defend critical infrastructure. It requires governance that supports automated enforcement, auditing, and reporting, reinforced by policies that are legally binding and technologically enforceable. As Gulf nations push forward with digital infrastructure, smart city initiatives, autonomous systems, AI-powered healthcare, and ultra-connected businesses, the security architecture must scale with the devices it protects. Phosphorus frames this as an opportunity to deliver cyber-physical resilience that aligns with the needs of CISOs, CIOs, and government leaders charged with safeguarding national assets and critical systems against escalating threats. The strategic objective is to achieve strong defense, smarter operations, and safer futures through intelligent, scalable, and automated security that is integrated with governance, policy, and practice.
AI-Driven Resilience, Partnerships, and Real-World Impact
Phosphorus positions itself not as a vendor but as a partner across the Gulf. The company has formed strategic collaborations with government entities, investment ministries, and major enterprises, contributing to high-level dialogues between U.S. and GCC stakeholders to align innovation with national priorities. These engagements are built on a long-term, confidential basis with a focus on outcomes rather than optics. They span sectors such as healthcare, finance, logistics, and smart infrastructure, helping organizations secure what matters most. The practical impact of this approach is demonstrated in real-world deployments that scale without disruption and deliver tangible risk reduction.
Real-world impact at scale has been demonstrated through several high-profile deployments. In a leading healthcare network, untracked infusion pumps, weak passwords, and outdated firmware represented hidden risks. Phosphorus deployed its platform to discover every device, assess risk, and apply fixes, all without interrupting patient care. In a major financial institution with roughly 30,000 connected endpoints, the security team previously had zero visibility into the xIoT footprint. The platform scanned the environment, mapped every device, and closed critical gaps, delivering not only compliance but a confidence-based security posture. In a major Gulf smart city, devices were deployed at speed but without proper security controls; Phosphorus provided live asset mapping, change alerts, and real-time control, enabling the city’s infrastructure to be monitored, protected, and future-proofed. These outcomes illustrate how intelligent, automated, AI-powered security can deliver measurable risk reduction while maintaining operational continuity across essential services.
The Gulf’s digital transformation journey is still underway, but the trajectory is clear: as digital infrastructure expands, so too must the governance, tooling, and strategic partnerships that secure it. Phosphorus’s approach emphasizes that effective xIoT security requires more than technology; it requires governance, policy enforcement, and scalable, automated operations that can keep pace with device diversity and growth. The result is not merely stronger defenses—it’s the ability to operate smarter, to optimize security investments, and to enable critical systems to function with greater resilience. The aim is to ensure that the Gulf’s digital future is not only ambitious and visionary but also secure, reliable, and capable of withstanding the evolving threat landscape.
Conclusion
The GCC’s initiative to build sophisticated, secure, and scalable xIoT ecosystems is both an engineering challenge and a strategic imperative. The convergence of an exploding device landscape, AI-driven threat capabilities, and the growing complexity of securing millions of devices calls for a radical rethinking of how security is designed, implemented, and governed. A new generation of defense—characterized by intelligent discovery, AI-powered risk assessment, and automated remediation at machine scale—offers a practical path forward. This approach must be embedded in governance frameworks that enforce policy, auditing, and accountability across all sectors, from healthcare and finance to smart cities and critical infrastructure. Collaboration between governments, industry, and technology partners will be crucial to align innovation with national priorities, to accelerate secure adoption of xIoT, and to ensure that the Gulf’s digital future remains visionary, resilient, and secure.
As nations across the Gulf accelerate digital infrastructure and smart city initiatives, Phosphorus remains committed to delivering cyber-physical resilience that CISOs, CIOs, and government leaders require to protect national assets and critical systems from escalating threats. The time to act is now: secure the xIoT frontier with intelligent, automated security that scales to the millions of devices shaping the Gulf’s future, so that progress can proceed without compromising safety, security, or trust.