IT security integrator AGT confronting electronic threats to Egyptian economy

AGT's Managing Director, Anas Chbib applauds Egyptian initiative to focus on major threats and solutions to IT security. "The level of attacks from viruses, worms and invasions by hackers, has increased dramatically recently and all sectors of the user community, governments, businesses and individual home users must maintain the highest level of preparedness to combat these destructive elements. This type of conference is a key to lifting awareness and introducing potential solutions," he says.

AGT has been at the forefront of the of the IT security battle in Egypt and the Middle East making a large investment in the region both in terms of effort and assets. It has partnered with several prominent European providers of specialised security solutions to integrate state-of-the-art system security both here and in the Arab world. Among them are:

-Stonesoft Corporation, a worldwide software company that develops, markets and sells a broad family of integrated network security solutions. Stonesoft provides enterprise-level network security and high availability clustering solutions for companies deploying business-critical network applications.

-F-Secure, a world leading anti-virus solution provider offering security solutions for enterprises and scalable and centrally managed data security for corporations challenged by the ever increasing security threats in today's complex network environments. At Gitex, F-Secure launched the world's first one platform personal firewall anti-virus and IDS.

Secunet's SINABOX provides Virtual Private Network (VPN) with maximum security based on open source. The SINABOX VPN was developed under the German Authority for Data Security for German government departments, and the military. This solution can be configured by AGT to suit the needs of Middle East clients.

The high level presence of AGT and its partners puts a strong emphasis on the short fall in IT security in the region. It is estimated by major research firms that investment in security software spending will increase 4 fold over 2002 levels by 2007 and should reach well in excess of US$200 million in the Arab world by then.

The Banking and Finance sectors are prime consumers of IT security solutions, and Egypt's current effort to modernise, integrate and secure the banking system in the country is a major application for IT security providers to confront.

Mr Chbib's presence in Egypt for the conference recognises the necessity for IT security solution providers to have a full understanding of the needs of the market, and stresses the commitment of AGT and its partners to provide individually tailored solutions to meet those requirements.