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CIONET - What's next

Connecting ambitious digital leaders and businesses around the globe.

Catch up on the upcoming CIONET Events

             
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Germany Sep 9, 2025 Country Members Physical german

Frankfurt: AI Driven Logistics

Vom ersten Use Case zur strategischen Neuausrichtung CIONET lädt bereits zum vierten Mal zu einem exklusiven Roundtable für CIOs und Digitalverantwortliche aus Logistik und Handel ein. Im Mittelpunkt des Abends steht die Frage, wie Unternehmen ihre KI-Initiativen erfolgreich skalieren und aus ersten Use Cases echten strategischen Mehrwert schaffen. Microsoft 365 für Frontline Worker: Moderne Tools, die Mitarbeitende im Tagesgeschäft entlasten ServiceNow für Prozessintegration: Automatisierte End-to-End-Workflows – vom Schadensfall bis zur Retourenabwicklung KI-gestützte Disposition und Planung: Mit smarten Algorithmen zur optimierten Supply Chain Digitale Lieferketten und letzte Meile: Transparenz, Effizienz und Kundenzentrierung durchgängig gedacht

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Belgium Sep 13, 2025 All Members Physical english

CIONET Cycling Event

Join us for a wonderful ride. The ride is accessible to all levels of riders and doesn't require extensive technical skills. More information will follow soon. Looking forward to ride together!

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Germany Sep 17, 2025 Country Members Physical german

München: Cyber Security Fatigue

Cybersecurity ist längst kein reines IT-Thema mehr – sie betrifft das gesamte Unternehmen. Doch während die Bedrohungslage zunimmt, geraten viele Security-Verantwortliche an ihre Belastungsgrenzen: zwischen 24/7-Verantwortung, wachsenden Anforderungen und dem ständigen Innovationsdruck.

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Germany Sep 17, 2025 Country Members Physical german

Köln: CIO & CISO, das Rezilienz-Power-Duo

IT-Betrieb und Cybersicherheit stehen heute unter extremem Druck: steigende Komplexität, wachsende regulatorische Anforderungen (NIS2, DORA, KRITIS), chronische Ressourcenknappheit – und gleichzeitig eine Bedrohungslage, die keine Verzögerungen duldet. Trotzdem agieren viele IT- und Security-Teams noch immer in Silos. Die Folge: ineffiziente Abläufe, Tool-Wildwuchs, langsame Reaktion auf Vorfälle und unklare Verantwortlichkeiten.

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Germany Sep 18, 2025 Country Members Virtual german

Online: Nachhaltige IT - CIDO Priorität

Nachhaltigkeit ist für CIOs nicht nur ein „Nice-to-have“, sondern eine strategische Priorität – sie beeinflusst direkt die finanzielle Performance, die operative Effizienz und die langfristige Wettbewerbsfähigkeit.

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Belgium Sep 18, 2025 Country Members Physical french

Les Rencontres: La dette technique : Un défi stratégique pour les entreprises

La dette technique est comparable à la négligence des réparations d'une maison. Ignorer un toit qui fuit peut faire gagner du temps aujourd'hui, mais cela pourrait conduire à l'effondrement du plafond plus tard. Pour remédier à la dette technique, il faut trouver et réparer ces fuites dès maintenant et mettre en place un plan d'entretien de la maison afin qu'elle soit prête pour les extensions futures. Pour résoudre ces problèmes, il faut définir des priorités stratégiques, communiquer clairement avec les parties prenantes et établir une feuille de route à long terme pour la modernisation. Cet événement se déroulera entièrement en français.

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Recent Cases

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Oman Arab Bank deploys Connected Threat Defense for greater network visibility

Oman Arab Bank, a leading financial institution in Oman, faced a surge in cyberattacks amid its rapid growth. To safeguard its sensitive data and protect customers, the bank sought a comprehensive cybersecurity solution. Trend Micro's advanced protection, visibility, and streamlined management capabilities proved to be the ideal fit.

OVERVIEW

Established in 1984, Oman Arab Bank SAOC is one of the largest banks in the Sultanate of Oman. Currently, Oman Arab Bank is a network of more than 65 branches and representative offices, and more than 148 ATMs across the Sultanate.

Over the past three decades, Oman Arab Bank (OAB) has consistently expanded its reach as well as its products and services. OAB offers customers in the country with a comprehensive suite of innovative solutions in retail banking, corporate and project finance, investment banking, trade finance, and most recently, Islamic banking. Today, OAB works to protect over 1,200 end users as well as the information of an extensive list of personal banking and business customers.

 
 

CHALLENGES

Given the rapid success of OAB and its position as a top regional financial institution, the Bank is having to contend with an exponential growth in cyberattacks, receiving more than 15,000 external threats, and thousands of spam and phishing emails on a daily basis. OAB faced stealthy targeted attacks, custom designed to penetrate standard defences, and poised to monetize intellectual property and customer information, or to encrypt essential data for ransom. OAB ‘s evolving IT infrastructure needed an instinctive security solution that was forward-looking, easily scalable, and capable of meeting the constant security demands.

“Our standalone systems offered little visibility, and was impossible to manage, not to mention the costly downtime during upgrades and patches,” said Basheer Al Balushi, Head of IT Security at Oman Arab Bank. “To increase efficiency, we needed preventive measures capable of securing our endpoints, networks and data centres. This required implementing a cybersecurity infrastructure that was layered, responsive, and easy to manage, while still being robust enough to detect and prevent threats across all channels within the bank’s IT infrastructure.

 

Cybersecurity is a new trend, a fashion basically. People call it fashion, auditors call it challenges, but we security professionals call it an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to secure, people, technologies and processes.

Basheer Al Balushi

Head of IT Security, Oman Arab Bank

 
 

WHY TREND

OAB’s requirement was for an end-to-end cyber security solution, from a security partner who could support them directly. “A Gartner certified, cyber security partner with number one enterprise-level expertise was a pre-requisite for us,” added Al Balushi. The security solution needed to provide heightened visibility and would have to integrate quickly with the Bank’s IT ecosystem, and provide complete control. “With a modern security approach, Trend Micro’s Connected Threat Defense is a layered security solution that protects, detects, and responds to new threats while simultaneously improving visibility, and streamlining investigation across our organization,” said Al Balushi.

 

Security is not a one-time job, where you fix it once and it’s gone. We are facing a very dynamic enemy, so it’s important to have an end-to-end security solution.

Basheer Al Balushi

Head of IT Security, Oman Arab Bank

 
 

SOLUTION

When evaluating potential security partners, OAB looked for a solution that could offer complete protection across the entire organization. “Going through the valuation process, what we have found out is that Trend Micro is a complete solution which can provide us end-to-end security, including endpoint security, mobile security, vulnerable security, IPS, and IDX security work station”, said Al Balushi.

Trend Micro™ Deep Security™ solution was enlisted for data centre server protection”. “This solution delivers complete security capabilities for physical, virtual, and cloud servers in a single integrated platform,” said Al Balushi.

For OAB, TippingPoint™ IPS has been instrumental in getting signatures on a daily basis. This solution is dynamic enough to catch those vulnerabilities, and the user interface is extremely user friendly.

Trend Micro™ Advanced Threat Protection gives OAB the power to detect, analyze, and respond to today’s stealthy ransomware, its variants, including WannaCry, and targeted attacks in real time.

 

I believe TippingPoint is one of the best IPS solutions in the market today. It is both dynamic and easy to use with an interface that integrates directly with other Trend Micro solutions.

Basheer Al Balushi

Head of IT Security, Oman Arab Bank

 
 

RESULTS

“The Bank’s IT infrastructure is protected from ongoing cyberattacks. “We can now see what’s going out of the network, what’s coming in, and all attacks that are being blocked with real-time updates”, added Al Balushi. Thanks to Trend Micro’s Connected Threat Defense, OAB’s new simplified and centralized security system has helped speed and mitigate incident responses. A centralized management console allows for better management of the IT environment across multiple layers of security.

This brings a new level of support for Al Balushi, “Today I have the comfort that we have a considerably more secure environment than before. Our partners are more comfortable doing business with us and our customers are more secure because I can confidently say our environment and data is protected“.

 
 

WHAT'S NEXT

OAB is quickly becoming a leader in security technology among the financial institutions of Oman and the Arab region, setting the standard for best cybersecurity practices. In their next step towards endpoint segmentation on the network, OAB has selected Trend Micro for its DR security because they wanted to have that same comfort level; as they do not want to go through complexities of having different solutions. “OAB, with our current security management system, acts as a role model for the Omani banking industry. Working with Trend Micro, we can now safely roll out new products and strategies for our customers and partners,” said Al Balushi.

 

Checkout our CIONET COOKBOOK

cookbook

Embark on a culinary journey through the ever-evolving world of digital leadership with our third edition of the CIONET Cookbook: Recipes for Digital Success. Unveiling the intricate trilemma faced by today’s Master Chefs, our trailblazing European CIOs address a challenge at the nexus of customer interests, digital transformation strategies, and IT modernisation. Their secret? Synchronising the gearing between customer, business, and technology to create a frictionless movement through the digital landscape.

The CIONET Cookbook uses the analogy of a five-star restaurant to explain the importance of optimally integrated technology, with the CIO as Master Chef. In order to provide the best service to its customers, a top restaurant must have the right atmosphere, an inviting menu, a well-equipped kitchen, talented and committed front-of-house and kitchen staff and smooth-running processes that ensure an enjoyable experience for diners.

CIONET TV

 
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Kalman Tiboldi - CTO & Founder at GemOne-TVH - Simplify or Die: Why Complexity Is the Real IT Challenge

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Isabelle Droll - CIO for Airline, Corporate, Hotels & Resorts and Sustainability at TUI - Data, Diversity, and Destinations

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Sharon Prior - CIO in transition - How Great Tech Leadership Begins with Business Thinking

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José Antonio López, Group CIO at TOUS - Jewels, Data & AI: Inside the Digital Transformation of TOUS

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Tom Tanghe - General Manager ITC EMEA at Daikin Europe - Reinventing the CIO Role

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CIOFEST 2025 - From Order Taker to Proactive Disruptor

CIONET Reports

 
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Cybersecurity in critical infrastructure

Geopolitical tensions have dominated the headlines for over two years now. In this context, the cyber threat landscape is also evolving rapidly. The protection and security of critical infrastructure – both physical and digital – is becoming increasingly important.

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HDS - From Hype to Reality Navigating the Challenges of GenAI

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Integration In An Era Of AI: Challenges And Opportunities

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Head of IT Germany and Regional Office Lead Munich, Microsoft

“The CIONET App allows us to learn from eachother and and find the courage to be authentic by hearing stories from others! Thanks to Tobias and the whole team for bringing us together:-) ”
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IT Director, IT Thinker

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“The CIONET app provides a really cool platform to network and share insights.”

About CIONET

CIONET’s mission is to help IT executives become more at ease and above all more successful in their jobs. So they can do more than just keep up with change but ultimately define it. CIONET opens up a whole new universe of opportunities in IT management.

With the largest membership of corporate digital leaders across Europe, Latin America, US and Australia, CIONET has the expertise and pioneering vision to solve or address any IT management challenge.

Why join CIONET?

From our local and global events, from our publications and research to our executive education programmes, everything we do is aimed at making sure digital leaders maximise their potential.

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with digital leaders who share your interests, who face the same challenges, who care about the same topics.

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stories, experiences, and ideas around our shared mission.

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inspiration, thought-provoking conversations, expert perspectives and exclusive first-hand content each and every day

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