James Johnson, Regional Sales Director – Northen Europe & Middle East at Bitdefender speaks to Techitup ME, shares insights on how they are empowering SMEs, large enterprises, PHASR Launch and scaling AI-driven protection. Reaffirms Bitdefender’s deep regional commitment beyond endpoint security across the Middle East.
Can you please tell us about the highlights of Bitdefender’s presence at GISEC this year?
Our key highlight this year was, showcasing our deep investment and growing presence across the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf States. We want to send a strong message to our channel partners and customers that Bitdefender is not just a small endpoint security provider for commercial or consumer segments — we are a serious cybersecurity platform player with enterprise-grade solutions. We’ve been in the industry for over 23 years, monitoring more than 50 billion events annually.
Our three core messages at GISEC 2025 were:
- We’re not a small or retail-only vendor — we serve enterprises and governments.
- Our long-standing credibility and experience in cybersecurity is built on serving mission-critical sectors.
- Our platform offers a unified, single-agent solution with XDR capabilities, enabling managed detection and response (MDR) that customers can trust.
Additionally, we’ve launched PHASR — our new proactive hardening and attack surface reduction tool. It dynamically analyses applications, evaluates their risk, and automates remediation. For instance, if an unused or high-risk tool like Python remains on a user’s system after a department transfer, PHASR identifies and mitigates that exposure automatically.
Most businesses in the Middle East fall in the SMB/SME segment, and are often the most vulnerable. How is Bitdefender supporting this segment in improving their threat response capabilities?
That’s a vital focus area for us. SMEs often struggle with limited IT resources, so speed and ease of deployment are critical. Bitdefender offers a streamlined deployment model — from research to full operational use — that significantly reduces time to value. This is possible because our platform isn’t burdened by outdated technology, despite our long-standing presence in the market.
We also have a strong channel-first model. Bitdefender doesn’t engage in direct sales — we rely 100% on our trusted partners. Many of them have teams of 15 to 20 engineers who are well-trained to deploy and support our solutions quickly and effectively.
Another big differentiator is our single-agent platform. Unlike other vendors who require multiple agents for email, endpoint, and network protection — creating complexity with multiple consoles and policies — our single-agent model simplifies deployment and management. This is ideal for SMEs with limited technical capacity.
How is Bitdefender leveraging AI for large enterprises across the Middle East?
We’ve integrated AI into our products from the beginning. While there’s a lot of hype around AI today, for us, it’s not new. We’ve long used AI to analyze alerts, reduce noise, and eliminate false positives — for example, preventing unnecessary SOC alerts from known, low-risk behaviors like print drivers pinging external ports.
What differentiates us now is twofold:
- We don’t expose our AI data lake to third-party systems or large public models — keeping customer data and intellectual property secure.
- We’re enhancing our AI capabilities using threat intelligence derived from 50 billion daily events across our global network.
Our AI isn’t an add-on or a third-party integration — it’s embedded into our core platform. That native integration helps us offer more reliable and efficient protection without extra layers of complexity or cost.
Can you tell us more about PHASR and your recent product launches?
PHASR is our latest innovation focused on proactive hardening and reducing attack surfaces. Traditionally, organizations have used user behavior analytics (UBA) to monitor and control access rights. PHASR applies that same principle to applications.
We treat applications like digital identities — assessing what they’re doing, what permissions they have, and whether they pose a risk. For instance, if a developer with Python installed transitions to a sales role, PHASR detects the risk and can automate the removal of such tools to prevent misuse or exploitation. This approach is particularly effective in dynamic environments where user roles shift, yet applications linger and create vulnerabilities. PHASR helps close that gap.
PHASR delivers two core services: Application Automation & Attack Surface Reduction, and Continuous Automated Configuration Compliance. The latter includes checks against 250+ configuration checkpoints, with direct correlations to industry frameworks such as NIST, DSS, PCI, and MITRE. This makes PHASR a powerful enabler for compliance, cyber insurance readiness, and governance, reinforcing our position as a true enterprise-grade cybersecurity provider.
Alongside this, we’re expanding our footprint with global roadshows to bring this technology to more regions and partners.
Bitdefender has often been associated with endpoint security, but your capabilities span across XDR and OT environments. Could you elaborate?
Absolutely. While we began as a pioneer in endpoint detection and response (EDR), Bitdefender has evolved into a full-spectrum cybersecurity platform. Our founders — the Talpeș family — are still actively involved and have built the company on engineering excellence rather than marketing hype.
Today, we’re a global organization with over 3,000 employees and more than $1 billion in annual revenue. We’ve expanded beyond endpoint security into XDR, OT security, and air-gapped defense environments. For example, in Saudi Arabia, we support highly secure government installations, including critical infrastructure and defense sectors.
Our engineering-first philosophy means we’ve built robust solutions for everything from legacy Windows systems to cutting-edge cloud deployments. And now, with a renewed investment in marketing and leadership, we’re ensuring the world hears our story — not just sees our technology.
