<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=2528533714139722&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
New call-to-action
be-page-banner (1)

Welcome to CIONET Belgium

Realise your ambition! Connect with your local community of digital leaders.

See what's next

Upcoming Events

 
Banner

Belgium 24-6-25 Country Members Physical english

Cloud Revisited - CIONET Belgium: Community Event

Cloud computing was hailed as the game-changing solution to modern business challenges—transforming how organisations operate, scale, and innovate. But as the technology matures, it’s time to take a step back and ask: Has cloud truly lived up to the hype, or are we overlooking its deeper complexities and hidden costs?In this critical reflection, we’ll revisit the core promises of cloud—such as enabling product-oriented organisations, facilitating End-to-End accountability, managing vast data volumes, and mitigating obsolescence. But we’ll also challenge the narrative: Are companies really freeing themselves to focus on innovation, or are they becoming dependent on cloud providers in ways that could limit future flexibility? How does the cloud reshape operating models, and are we prepared for the long-term consequences of handing over infrastructure control?

Read More
Banner

Belgium 27-6-25 Squad Only Physical english

Legacy Systems: Barrier or Bridge to Digital Transformation? : Is breaking free from legacy systems necessary without sacrificing business continuity.

Many Belgian companies face the challenge of modernizing legacy systems. This session will explore strategies to overhaul legacy infrastructure while ensuring business continuity, enabling companies to embrace digital transformation fully.

Read More
Banner

Belgium 27-6-25 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!

Read More

Upcoming TRIBE Events

 
Banner

June 24, 2025 Squad Session Invitation Only Virtual polish

Cloud & Infrastructure TRIBE: Warsztaty Technologiczne

Serdecznie zapraszamy na warsztaty technologiczne, podczas spotkania Łukasz Kuflewski z Cloudware Polska zaprezentuje, jak wygląda nowoczesne podejście do ochrony tożsamości w erze rosnących zagrożeń cyfrowych. Przedstawimy możliwości rozwiązania IBM Verify Identity Protection, które łączy wykrywanie i reagowanie na zagrożenia związane z tożsamościami (ITDR) oraz ciągłe monitorowanie, ocenę i poprawę stanu bezpieczeństwa tożsamości (ISPM). Pokażemy, jak wykrywać podejrzane działania i dynamicznie reagować na zagrożenia. Zamiast samej teorii – zobaczysz praktyczny pokaz działania narzędzia, które redefiniuje bezpieczeństwo tożsamości w nowoczesnych środowiskach IT.

Read More
Banner

June 26, 2025 Squad Session Invitation Only Virtual polish

Security TRIBE: Warsztaty Technologiczne

Serdecznie zapraszamy na warsztaty technologiczne, podczas sesji przybliżymy Państwu architekturę SASE HPE Aruba. Omówmy możliwości zagwarantowania bezpiecznego dostępu do internetu, aplikacji SaaS jak i aplikacji korporacyjnych dla pracowników i kontraktorów z wykorzystaniem rozwiązania Security Service Edge. Omówmy również jak zoptymalizować sieć WAN, redukując jednocześnie TCO.

Read More
Banner

June 27, 2025 Squad Session Squad Only Physical english

Legacy Systems: Barrier or Bridge to Digital Transformation? : Is breaking free from legacy systems necessary without sacrificing business continuity.

Many Belgian companies face the challenge of modernizing legacy systems. This session will explore strategies to overhaul legacy infrastructure while ensuring business continuity, enabling companies to embrace digital transformation fully.

Read More

CIONET Partner Updates

CIONET Partner Updates

Recent Cases

Please Log In with your CIONET account first

Al Ghurair reinforces cybersecurity resilience with Trend Micro

Al Ghurair Investment faced growing cyber threats during its digital transformation. Trend Micro's integrated security solutions protected its data and ensured business continuity.

OVERVIEW

Al Ghurair Investment is one of the largest diversified family business groups in the Middle East. The company operates in six distinct industry sectors: food and resources, properties, construction, energy, mobility, and ventures. Established as a small trading business in 1960, when pearl diving and fishing were the mainstays in the country, the company has woven itself into the very fabric of the nation. Al Ghurair has fostered a proud history of innovation and entrepreneurship and continues to build upon its legacy, which is rooted in a solid commitment to facilitate meaningful and sustainable change, all guided by a single idea: ‘Enhancing Life.’

The company’s current IT environment combines solutions and services from Microsoft and AWS. Its mission is to protect Al Ghurair’s digital environment from today’s sophisticated cybersecurity threats.

 
 

CHALLENGES

Headquartered in Deira, the heart of Dubai, the Al Ghurair family name is synonymous with the development of the region, as the company’s operations span more than 20 countries across the globe through various sectors. With approximately 28,000 employees, the company manages a high number of endpoints.

As the company grew, Al Ghurair needed to mitigate cybersecurity risks that organizations of its size face within the IT infrastructure. Due to its high volume of operations, the situation demanded multi-layered cybersecurity solutions. This would enable Al Ghurair to leverage full visibility and protection of endpoints and cloud operations while safeguarding its networks from the risks of modern-day cyber threats. In addition, the company required complete visibility throughout its digital environment from a single, centralized console.

“Protecting our digital infrastructure was a key priority, especially through our accelerated digital transformation program,” says IT Security Specialist for Al Ghurair Investment, Kamran Manzoor. “We needed to shield our growth and operations, so it was crucial we selected a security vendor whom we could trust to tirelessly keep our organization safe from the modern threat landscape with cutting-edge solutions. And Trend Micro proved to be the trusted partner we were looking for."

 

We continue to benefit from solutions such as Trend Micro Apex One, and the incredibly robust Trend Micro Vision One with Managed XDR, that has fortified our security posture.

Kamran Manzoor

IT Security Specialist, Al Ghurair Investment

 
 

WHY TREND

With over 3,000 end users, Al Ghurair needed to adopt security solutions that safeguarded the transformation process and bolsters its digital framework, protecting all its operations from cloud to edge. The company required a robust, automated, insightful, all-in-one cybersecurity solution that protected the brand from evolving cyber threats. This would allow Al Ghurair to keep up with its reputation and commitment to the region. This convinced the company to turn to Trend Micro because of its standout performances in cybersecurity as a Gartner Magic Quadrant™ Leader, particularly from its centralized SOC service.

Trend Micro’s ongoing relationship with Al Ghurair instilled confidence within the organization, knowing it would receive high-quality solutions and services in a structured manner. There was no second-guessing or room for doubt when adopting industry-leading solutions that were tried and tested. The company’s security teams were determined to utilize the best cyber defense tools and strategies that provided fast detection and faster responses, thus assuring that operations were always stable.

“In today’s accelerated digital era with an emphasis on cloud operations, cybersecurity will always remain a part of our growth strategy going forward,” says Group Vice President, Information Technology, with Al Ghurair Investment, Marinda Sheahan. We must secure our digital environments so that our emp loyees can fulfill their duties in the safest way possible. With Trend Micro, we are more confident than ever in protecting our IT infrastructures and are prepared for future challenges in our digital transformation journeys.”

 

With Trend Micro, we are more confident than ever in protecting our IT infrastructures and are prepared for future challenges in our digital transformation journeys.

Marinda Sheahan

Group Vice President, Information Technology, Al Ghurair Investment

 
 

SOLUTION

Trend Micro Vision One with Managed XDR enabled Al Ghurair to detect and respond across more security layers. This solution allowed security teams to gain total control over the digital infrastructure and detect threats with industry-leading XDR capabilities.

In addition, Al Ghurair incorporated solutions—including Trend Micro Email Security, Trend Micro Service One, and Deep Discovery Inspector—into their cybersecurity strategy. Email Security detects and blocks advanced threats, as layered protection guards against persistent and targeted attacks from ransomware and other unidentified malware with enhanced efficiency.

Adding to the technical benefits is Trend Micro’s collaborative environment, its rapid response to threats, and its’ always-prepared support team.

 
 

RESULTS

By incorporating Trend Micro security solutions, Al Ghurair is now able to stop complex attacks before they impact users. In addition, the company has improved IT security management efficiency and compliance and leverage greater visibility across the threat landscape. With an increased response time of up to 70%, XDR sensors across email, endpoints, servers, cloud workloads, and networks identify and correlate activities to produce high-confidence detection—with the power to search, investigate, analyze, and respond from a single console. This has provided a centralized view of all threats and risks for greater ease of management, leading to a simplified approach to investigations and the ability to take immediate action.

 
 

WHAT'S NEXT

Al Ghurair is looking to tackle data sharing challenges by limiting or restricting uploads to data sharing platforms. This will provide the company with brand image protection (as their brand domain has been recently spoofed for malicious purposes), cybersecurity awareness at a group level, and the ability to uncover and protect more zero-day attacks and vulnerabilities. This level of holistic security gives Al Ghurair more tools to protect their digital assets against geo-targeted phishing attacks and ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) groups, while achieving greater visibility through code deployment and DevOps.

 

CIONET Circles

CIONET Business Circles

Banner
Healthcare Circle

Digital Transformation is redefining the future of health care and health delivery. All stakeholders are convinced that these innovations will create value for patients, healthcare practitioners, hospitals, and governments along the patient pathway. The benefits are starting from prevention and awareness to diagnosis, treatment, short- and long-term follow-up, and ultimately survival. But how do you make sure that your working towards an architecturally sound, secure and interoperable health IT ecosystem for your hospital and avoid implementing a hodgepodge of spot solutions? How does your IT department work together with the other stakeholders, such as the doctors and other healthcare practitioners, Life Sciences companies, Tech companies, regulators and your internal governance and administrative bodies?

Read More
Banner
Telenet Business Leadership Circle

The Telenet Business Leadership Circle powered by CIONET, offers a platform where IT executives and thought leaders can meet to inspire each other and share best practices. We want to be a facilitator who helps you optimise the performance of your IT function and your business by embracing the endless opportunities that digital change brings.

Read More
Banner
Les Rencontres

Découvrez la dynamique du leadership numérique aux Rencontres de CIONET, le programme francophone exclusif de CIONET pour les leaders numériques en Belgique, rendu possible grâce au soutien et à l'engagement de nos partenaires de programme : Deloitte, Denodo et Red Hat. Rejoignez trois événements inspirants par an à Liège, Namur et en Brabant Wallon, où des CIOs et des experts numériques francophones de premier plan partagent leurs perspectives et expériences sur des thèmes d'affaires et de IT actuels. Laissez-vous inspirer et apprenez des meilleurs du secteur lors de sessions captivantes conçues spécialement pour soutenir et enrichir votre rôle en tant que CIO pair. Ne manquez pas cette opportunité de faire partie d'un réseau exceptionnel d'innovateurs numériques !

Read More
Banner
Female Leadership Circle

CIONET is committed to highlighting and celebrating female role models in IT, Tech & Digital, creating a leadership programme that empowers and elevates women within the tech industry. This initiative is dedicated to showcasing the achievements and successes of leading women, fostering an environment where female role models are recognised, and their contributions can ignite progress and inspire the next generation of women in IT. Our mission is to shine the spotlight a little brighter on female role models in IT, Tech & Digital, and to empower each other through this inner network community.

Read More

Check out our latest news

Testimonials

Geert Goethals
Geert Goethals
CIO
Sibelga
Bahadir Samli
Bahadir Samli
CIO
ING Belgique
2-Feb-29-2024-11-35-00-9309-AM
Bart Kerkhofs
Vice President & Head of IT
Bridgestone EMIA
Untitled design (1)-Apr-01-2022-10-58-34-57-AM
Michał Paprocki
Group CIO
Euroclear
1-Feb-29-2024-11-34-59-8990-AM
Manfred Boudreaux-Dehmer
Chief Information Officer
NATO
Untitled design-Nov-22-2023-08-42-05-3178-AM
Annick Faes
Vice President IT and CIO Medical Devices EMEA
Johnson & Johnson
Piet_De_Ceuleners
Piet De Ceuleners
Global IT Director
Melexis
1516254845697
Steven Soers
VP Marketing
Telenet Business
Untitled design-7
Stef Schampaert
Country Managing Director BeLux
Red Hat
CIONET Belgium - Advisory Board Member - Geert Lejon
Geert Lejon
Vice President Head of Belux / Head of Comms Benelux
Cognizant
Kevin_Ledegen
Kevin Ledegen
Group IT director
SDWorx
Gunter-Van-Craen_Small
Gunter Van Craen
Chief Digital & Information Officer
Bekaert
Thomas Kessler
Thomas Kessler
Partner | CIO Programme Leader
Deloitte
Emmanuel Gob
Emmanuel Gob
CIO
DPD
pascal pauwels
Pascal Pauwels
CIO
Colruyt
Untitled design (4)-Dec-13-2023-10-53-15-5032-AM
Koen Segers
Managing Director Belgium and Luxembourg
Dell Technologies
benoit dewaele
Benoît Dewaele
Group IT Directo
Vandemoortele
Dirk Deridder-1
Dirk Deridder
Director IT Infrastructure, Systems, Services & Support (CIO / CTO role)
SMALS
Thierry Driesens
Thierry Driesens
CIO
TVH
Untitled design-Sep-18-2023-11-59-29-7866-AM
Koen Vandaele
CIO
Delen Private Bank
Untitled design (4)-Jun-12-2023-01-23-11-7540-PM
Liesbet D'hoker
Managing Director
Kyndryl BeLux
steven-vermeulen
Steven Vermeulen
CIO
Digitaal Vlaanderen
Jack Hamande
Jack Hamande
Director General Digital Transformation
Federale Overheidsdienst Beleid en Ondersteuning
Tom Tomczak
Tom Tomczak
Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)
NRB
1726588748718
Cassandre Laurent
Directeur général
Agence du Numérique
an swalens
An Swalens
Head Of IT (CIO)
National Bank of Belgium
Untitled design (2)-Apr-01-2022-10-58-34-68-AM
Elke Laeremans
Chief Digital & Supply Chain Officer at Casa International
CIONET Belgium - Advisory Board Member - Koen Van Loo
Koen Van Loo
CIO
Group S.
Peter Sany
Peter Sany
Executive Advisor
Zoom
CIONET Belgium - Advisory Board Member - Steven De Haes
Steven De Haes
Dean
Antwerp Management School
Marleen Thorré
Marleen Thorré
Head of Digital EMEA
Mitsubishi Chemical Group

Team

Luc Hendrikx
Luc Hendrikx
CEO
Inès De Bien
Inès De Bien
Partner - CCO
1-Feb-08-2022-10-22-08-68-AM
Daniel Eycken
Partner - COO
Hendrik Deckers
Hendrik Deckers
Founder - MD
Untitled design (1)-2
Jelte Scheys
Tribes Sales Director Belgium
foto Herman
Herman Roelandts
Tribe Master
Joseph Antoun
Joseph Antoun
Senior Program Director
1-Dec-16-2021-02-15-57-02-PM
Eman De Sutter
Program Manager
4-Feb-08-2022-10-22-09-03-AM
Shelly Deracourt
Program Manager
Untitled design (5)-Sep-01-2022-02-47-55-60-PM
Charlotte Coen
Partner Success Manager
Untitled design (1)-Nov-22-2023-08-56-42-6802-AM
Ivana Bradvica
Junior Event Manager
ML B-W-1
Martine Lefevre
Financial Controller
Vlera Berishaa (1)
Vlera Berisha
Junior Community Manager
Phaedra Vanhaeren
Phaedra Vanhaeren
Programme & Event Manager

Contact us

Would you like to know more about CIONET Belgium, membership or partnership opportunities? Do you have feedback or any other question? Send us a message!