Cisco AI is gaining attention as organizations across the Middle East explore AI agents for enterprise applications. The company emphasized the importance of securing both AI agents and the AI supply chain in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

According to Cisco’s AI Readiness Index 2025, 92% of organizations in the UAE and 91% in KSA plan to develop or deploy AI agents across various sectors, including government services, financial services, energy, and large enterprises. However, challenges such as infrastructure limitations, workforce gaps, and security concerns persist.

Fady Younes, Managing Director for Cybersecurity at Cisco Middle East, Türkiye, Africa, and Romania, reported, “As AI agents move from experimentation to real-world deployment, organizations face new security considerations. Securing the full AI lifecycle is essential for digital trust and resilience.”

Cisco recently introduced AI Defense, a security solution designed to protect enterprise AI applications. The platform includes AI supply chain scanning and runtime protections for AI agents, helping organizations identify vulnerabilities before deployment.

• AI supply chain risks arise from third-party models and datasets, which can expose systems to code execution or data leaks.
• Cisco AI Defense protects AI agents at runtime from threats like prompt injections, data leakage, and denial-of-service attacks.
• The solution also functions as an MCP gateway to secure multi-agent AI systems and interactions with sensitive data.

Cisco continues to invest in AI security research and partnerships to support safe AI adoption across the Middle East, helping organizations advance national AI and digital transformation initiatives.

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