SOFEX Jordan announces 2nd Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity conference

AMMAN — The Special Operations Forces for Exhibition and Conference “SOFEX Jordan” held a press conference on Wednesday to announce the upcoming launch of the second edition of the Artificial Intelligence in Defence Technologies and Cybersecurity (AIDTSEC) conference. 

The main event will take place on September 4-5 at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre at the Dead Sea in Jordan. 

“Networking for Digital Innovation” is the theme of this year’s conference, which aims to emphasise the significance of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, as well as the importance of employing strategic approaches in information security and smart application development.

The press conference was led by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of SOFEX, Yousef Al Khatib, CEO of Jordan Design and Development Bureau (JODDB) Ayman Al Batran, CEO of SOFEX Ahmad Al Taweel, and Aiman Mazahreh, co-founder and CEO of Specialised Technical Services.

“In today’s rapidly developing tech-scene, and due to the emergence of increasing threats to information security, this year’s conference theme is planned to highlight two main pillars, content and innovation,” Khatib said during the conference. 

The conference’s main aim is to showcase modern technology and highlight the need for cooperation in the field, Khatib added. 

“The first edition of the conference was great motivation for organising the second edition,” Taweel said. 

Taweel commended the commitment of all partners, both local and international, to achieve the conference’s goals of promoting sustainable artificial intelligence skills and investing in artificial intelligence infrastructure. 

“This conference provides an ideal platform for communication with government officials, military personnel, experts in information technology, investors, regional and international delegations and government officials,” said Taweel. 

Taweel noted that AIDTSEC is the only conference in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region that receives significant attention from the government, military and private sector. 

“Our role as strategic partners in the conference revolves around achieving true convergence of innovation across all areas of information technology in general — and cybersecurity in particular,” Mazahreh said during the conference.

 “We are keen on presenting the latest solutions and services that serve our national digital transformation plans, as well as the cybersecurity strategies of enterprises of all sizes,” Mazahreh added. 

At this year’s conference, JODDB is launching the first edition of the “ArmyThone” competition, which is designed for armed forces and security agencies, according to a statement from the organisers.

The competition is envisioned to collate plans and theories to help combat and manage hacking and electronic forensic investigations to maintain cybersecurity when confronting infrastructure threats. According to the statement, this can be achieved by combining best practices among the participants, who will work in teams through a series of challenges designed specifically for building cybersecurity and encryption skills.

Winners of the competition will be announced during the AIDTSEC 2023 closing ceremony. The competition will take place over the course of four days and include challenges in encryption, electronic forensic investigations, web penetration, open-source data and reverse engineering, according to the statement.

The AIDTSEC conference is held every two years with the support of the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, and several public and private sector partners. During the conference, the latest technology and developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) that were devised to help find vital solutions for daily operations, data protection, cyber security and many other important issues related to AI, will be showcased.