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Bilal Baig, Chief Technical Officer at Trend Micro
DUBAI / GULF TIME
Bilal Baig, Chief Technical Officer at Trend Micro, discusses the future of digital defense, the world’s first cybersecurity LLM, and empowering the region through innovation and talent.
As the cybersecurity landscape rapidly evolves with the rise of AI, Trend Micro is at the forefront of redefining digital defense. At this year’s GISEC, the company showcased cutting-edge innovations that focused on predictive and proactive protection—powered by decades of expertise and the latest in AI technology.
“At GISEC, we’re highlighting our flagship enterprise platform, which is deeply powered by AI,” said Bilal Baig, Chief Technical Officer at Trend Micro. “While AI is often seen as a buzzword, we’ve integrated it meaningfully into both the front end and back end of our systems. This enables us to truly support enterprises in a transformative way. We’ve found that without AI, it’s incredibly difficult to achieve accurate predictions—something that’s essential in today’s security landscape. That’s why a major focus for us is predictive and proactive security. Our solution can anticipate threats before they occur, which marks a significant leap forward in how we protect against attacks.”
Baig emphasized a significant industry shift: “If you look across various security perimeters—especially in industries like national security—you’ll typically see a progression from a compliance-based approach, to a risk-based one, and finally to the most effective: a proactive approach. This year at GISEC, that’s exactly what we’re highlighting. It’s a major shift for us, because for years, the industry has largely been reactive—responding to incidents only after they happen. We’ve become good at managing crises, but not at preventing them. Now, with AI integrated into both the front and back end of our platform, we’re able to predict threats before they occur, allowing organizations to take preventative action and avoid the fallout. This is where cybersecurity is heading, and we’re proud to be leading that change.”
When asked about how enterprises in the UAE can defend against the latest threats, Baig stated: “One of the most critical elements in cybersecurity is visibility. Before you can take any meaningful action or apply effective remediation, you must first have a clear view of your environment. And this visibility needs to exist across multiple layers—on servers, at the edge, in the cloud, and now increasingly on users interacting with AI tools. Once visibility is established, then security controls can be effectively implemented.”
He added, “A major challenge for many organizations in the UAE is the presence of hundreds of different platforms and point solutions. This creates complexity and overhead for security teams. That’s why many are now moving toward consolidated platforms that offer unified visibility across all domains. With this holistic view, the next step is remediation—and this is where the latest innovations come into play. Modern security is centered around XDR (Extended Detection and Response), predictive security, and proactive defense. These approaches rely on data gathered through visibility to anticipate potential vulnerabilities and threats before they materialize. This ties directly into a broader strategic framework known as Cyber Risk Enterprise Management (CREM). It’s all about managing cyber risk at the enterprise level in a structured and forward-looking way—moving beyond crisis response to intelligent, preemptive protection.”
Looking to the future, Baig shared: “Let me share something exciting. At Trend Micro, we’ve been a part of GISEC every year for the past 35 years, and this year, we’re introducing a major industry-first: the world’s first cybersecurity-focused Large Language Model (LLM), called Cyberron. Cyberron is built on 35 years of threat intelligence and cybersecurity expertise from Trend Micro. It’s not just another AI model—it’s a specialized tool that organizations can use to analyze, understand, and respond to threats more intelligently and efficiently. This is the first time such a model has been made publicly available, and it reflects the significant investment Trend Micro is making in AI for cybersecurity.”
“Beyond that, we’re also advancing our capabilities in predictive threat detection. Traditionally, we’ve relied on one-to-one relationships—‘if this happens, then that will follow.’ But now, we’ve evolved to map out all potential attack paths a hacker might take. Our system can show you which assets are at risk and how blocking one path may or may not prevent future compromise. This level of prediction will continue to grow over the next 6 to 12 months.”
“Looking ahead, you’ll also hear more about a new concept in our roadmap: Agent AI. This involves autonomous AI agents operating within the cybersecurity space to proactively detect and mitigate threats without human intervention. Trend Micro is actively developing these capabilities as part of our next phase of innovation. In short, you can expect to see a wave of AI-driven advancements from Trend Micro—especially in areas like predictive security, threat intelligence, and automated response.”
When discussing industry growth, Baig said: “AI and cybersecurity are evolving so rapidly that it’s becoming nearly impossible to predict what’s next. Let me explain why. We started out protecting traditional endpoints like laptops. Then came virtualization, which expanded the attack surface. As organizations moved to the cloud, the threat landscape shifted again. Soon after, we had to secure IoT devices, which introduced a whole new set of vulnerabilities. And now, AI itself has entered the equation—not only are we using AI to enhance cybersecurity, but attackers are also leveraging AI to create more sophisticated threats.”
“Each year brings new technologies that increase an organization’s attack surface. So yes, cybersecurity remains at the core, and it must continually adapt and evolve. But we can’t slow down innovation or stop people from using AI. The real challenge—and opportunity—is in enabling innovation securely. That’s why we’re seeing more specialized cybersecurity projects and greater focus on empowering teams to build securely. And alongside that, we need to focus on upskilling talent.
“In short, as AI and technology become part of everyday life, they also become part of the enterprise security equation. Our role is to empower, protect, and educate—so that innovation can move forward safely.”
On Trend Micro’s plans for 2025 and beyond, Baig concluded: “It’s not just Trend Micro—the entire industry is evolving, and so are our priorities. We’re now focusing on more specialized segments, especially in regions like ours where government and financial services are critical. In fact, we’ve recently brought in a BFSI expert at Trend Micro who focuses specifically on risk, compliance, and cybersecurity as a unified strategy. This reflects our deeper investment in sector-specific expertise.”
“At the same time, we’re committed to developing local cybersecurity talent. We’ve launched initiatives like the CyberGate internship program—a summer internship designed to give university graduates hands-on exposure to cybersecurity. We’re also organizing more targeted industry events, including Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions that help participants understand real-world cyberattack and defense scenarios.”
“Additionally, we’re hosting workshops and webinars across the region to raise awareness and build skills. A major part of this effort is our ‘Risk to Resilience’ world tour, which includes 13 stops in the region this year. The Dubai stop is happening on May 15th, and we’re excited to bring that energy and knowledge-sharing to multiple cities. So yes, it’s non-stop for us—but it’s all about empowering organizations and individuals to face cybersecurity challenges with confidence.”