Abacus Cybersecurity Director on the Complexity and Cyber Risk of Gulf Expansion

ALTALLO published a new Institutional Perspective examining the cybersecurity risks alternative investment managers face when expanding into the Gulf. The piece was contributed by Abacus Director of Cybersecurity, Travis DeForge, who argued that the real risk isn't a new Dubai or Abu Dhabi office being insecure - it's the ambiguity that builds up between headquarters, the new regional team, and third parties while everyone moves fast. As DeForge put it, "cyber incidents rarely begin with an obviously reckless decision."

DeForge walked through how cross-border payment fraud typically unfolds - attackers quietly monitoring a compromised mailbox for days or weeks to learn who approves payments, when signatories travel, and how invoices are formatted, before striking at the moment of maximum plausibility. He laid out an eight-point payment control checklist funds should have in place, built around a single principle: separating communication from authorization. He also detailed four core, unglamorous controls he sees firms underinvest in - phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication, 24×7 monitoring with real authority to contain threats, mature vulnerability management, and shadow AI monitoring.

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Read the full article on ALTALLO.