Google Cloud and Haboob Partner to Strengthen Saudi Arabia’s Nationwide Cyber Defense with Chronicle CyberShield

16 November 2023: Haboob, a leading cybersecurity service provider owned by the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming, and Drones (SAFCSP), announces its partnership with Google Cloud to deliver Chronicle CyberShield to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This marks the first time Chronicle CyberShield will be offered in a managed services model in the Kingdom, aiming to bolster cybersecurity services for public sector organizations.

Chronicle CyberShield is a comprehensive solution that provides technology, processes, capabilities, and resources to deliver situational awareness of the cyber threat landscape. It is uniquely designed for government entities to share threat information, help accelerate investigations and initiate a united response against persistent and ever-evolving threats proactively and rapidly.

Haboob and Google Cloud are addressing the rising demand for cloud services in the Kingdom in alignment with the Saudi government’s Vision 2030 goals of digital transformation. With businesses and the government sector rapidly adopting a wide range of new technologies, the cyber threat landscape in Saudi Arabia has also undergone a rapid shift, and the nation’s cybersecurity preparedness continues to be a top priority.

Running on Google Cloud’s infrastructure, Chronicle CyberShield is capable of ingesting large amounts of data and conducting analytics within seconds. This can be a crucial factor when protecting one of the top 20 global economies and dealing with diverse data sources across various organisations and industries.

Haboob is spearheading the nationwide implementation of this solution, including the launch of a modernised Government Security Operations Centre in Saudi Arabia, with advanced threat intelligence capabilities, enabling proactive detection and response to threats and incidents.

As part of the partnership, Haboob will also have access to a range of services from cybersecurity leader, Mandiant, part of Google Cloud. These services include incident response capabilities, compromise and cyber defence assessments, and red teaming, in order to help protect key customer assets.

The CEO of Haboob, Eng. Saleh Alhaqbani, stated their keenness to provide their services to a wide range of clients in government and private sectors, which reflects great confidence in their ability to meet their needs in the cybersecurity sector, and stressed the importance of managed security monitoring services, which are growing significantly due to the legislation and security controls of the National Cybersecurity Authority as well as the great risks resulting from cyber threats and new and complex methods of Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) to bypass and penetrate technical systems.

The CEO also added that Haboob is delivering a managed security monitoring service in partnership with Google Cloud using Google Chronicle Cybershield, which is supported by artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that helps enable it to detect complex cyber threats, as Haboob seeks to contribute to creating a safe cyberspace and achieving its strategic goals that have been worked on to align them with Saudi Vision 2030’s strategic goals.

Stuart McKenzie, Managing Director EMEA, Mandiant Consulting, part of Google Cloud said: “As Saudi Arabia progresses toward its Vision 2030 plan, the demand for cybersecurity solutions continues to rise. Haboob is uniquely positioned to meet this need and to bring Chronicle CyberShield to the Kingdom. Their strong reputation, combined with Google Cloud’s advanced technology, threat intelligence and Mandiant consulting capabilities, will form the basis of a long-term partnership to help protect the nation against advanced cyber threats.”

The news was revealed on stage at Black Hat MEA at the Riyadh Front Exhibition & Conference Center by Stuart McKenzie and Saleh Alhaqbani.