DarkMatter Appoints Ex-Cisco Veteran Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Business Development

DarkMatter, an international cyber security firm headquartered in the UAE, today announced the appointment of seasoned technology executive, Rabih Dabboussi as its Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Business Development. Rabih joins DarkMatter from Cisco UAE, where he was Managing Director.

In his new position at DarkMatter, Rabih is responsible for the company's overall business development, sales, and go-to-market strategy as it looks to secure engagements across various industry sectors, with an early focus on National Critical Infrastructure, Telecom, Financial Services, Energy, and Government sectors. Rabih will also lead the marketing functions at DarkMatter, ensuring the company's business objectives are well positioned through industry and thought-leadership engagements, as well as internal and external communications.

Rabih spent 20 years working with Cisco and brings along a depth and breadth of experiences. He joined Cisco in 1996 within the Research Triangle Park R&D team in North Carolina, USA. Rabih worked on Cisco's flagship Internetworking Operating System (IOS) development on many of the company's core routing platforms, Mobile and Telecom Products, as well as on the Mobile solutions the company provided.  Later on he built and led a global customer-facing and consultancy team in Cisco's Service Provider Technology Group's Mobile Business Unit.   

Commenting on Rabih's appointment, Faisal Al Bannai, DarkMatter Chief Executive Officer said, "We are very pleased to have attracted yet another experienced technology executive to join our ranks. Cisco is a world class company, and Rabih's own journey of 20 years with it is equally impressive. He brings with him real depth of expertise in the areas of digitisation, IP connectivity, security, Smart Cities, and the Internet of Things (IoT); all central to our ambitions at DarkMatter."

Faisal Al Bannai continued, "Rabih also has extensive experience working with senior representatives of governments and large enterprises on their technology outlook, and on how to leverage IP to enable organisations to operate efficiently while delivering customer success. As DarkMatter builds its presence and engagements with public and private entities in the UAE and across the region, Rabih's understanding of market drivers and his established relationships will be invaluable." 

As Managing Director of Cisco UAE, Rabih was responsible for all areas of Cisco's business across government and private sector organisations and he worked closely with Cisco's partner ecosystem in the region. His responsibilities extended to driving and forging close relationships with government stakeholders and ensuring that Cisco's business objectives and goals were closely aligned.

With a key focus around smart and connected nations, Rabih played a pivotal role driving Cisco's Smart City strategy in the UAE and the wider Middle East region. Rabih's achievements have been demonstrable in the business growth Cisco UAE experienced under his leadership as well as the country's adoption of innovative technologies and solutions within numerous government and private sectors.

Rabih Dabboussi commented, "I feel very proud to be part of the DarkMatter team.  I was attracted to this role having been exposed to the passion and vision of DarkMatter, which as a relatively new organisation, only has the present and future in its strategic outlook, without legacy. Cyber security has become a national priority in the UAE and elsewhere, and a critical area in ensuring the sustainable growth and success of economies and societies.  DarkMatter's ambition to position itself at the centre of securing critical national infrastructure and how entities protect their digital assets in a connected age is a well-timed and highly relevant one."

Rabih continued, "Cyber-security is a critical priority for nations; I look forward to helping senior industry players take full advantage of the benefits offered by resilient and secure digitisation, and the wide adoption of IP connectivity, without compromising their security."

Having lived in the UAE since 2008, where he arrived to lead Cisco's engineering organisation, Rabih was subsequently promoted to several other leadership positions, including heading up Cisco's Strategic Accounts business and being responsible for the company's service provider segments across emerging markets. 

Rabih has achieved several US technology patents that helped differentiate Cisco's products and solutions, and has lived and worked in the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He holds a BS in Computer Science from North Carolina State University.

Already a trusted partner to the UAE Government, DarkMatter is staffed by tier one international cyber experts who develop, manage and deploy the most innovative technologies. Solutions adhere to the company's Cyber Security Life-Cycle, which incorporates a four-stage approach involving planning, detection, protection and recovery, and reinforces its secure business solutions.

DarkMatter is leveraging this experience in the wider market as it looks to serve regional and international clients. The company provides a complete portfolio of cyber security solutions and services to organisations that have sophisticated security requirements, from governments and infrastructure operators to large corporations.

About DarkMatter

DarkMatter is a company that is transforming the cyber security landscape by providing a complete range of state-of-the-art services and solutions to governments and commercial clients. Its end-to-end expertise extends to:

Governance, Risk and Compliance

We work with public and private entities in all verticals to audit and assess their performance against regulatory standards, helping identify gaps and meet obligations.

Cyber Network Defence

Our elite team of cyber experts, engaged across all competencies and functions, tasked with identifying and responding to the most advanced threats, threat actors, and cyber attacks.

Managed Security Services

We offer a remote monitoring remediation and resolution service that puts the full capabilities and resources of the DarkMatter organisation at the service of our MSS teams. Whether you need a SOC built and operated from scratch or you need assistance in upgrading what you currently have in place, DarkMatter can provide assistance.

Secure Communications

DarkMatter's Secure Communications Suite protects fixed and mobile voice, video, chat, email, file sharing, data communication, as well as device management across various platforms and operating systems.

Infrastructure and System Integration

This area underpins our professional services offering for governments and corporations, providing applications, services and solutions that ensure our clients remain at the forefront of cyber security.

Smart Solutions

We offer a comprehensive security suite of services comprising elements of protection for both homes and businesses: The Connected and Secure Home & Office; Technical Surveillance and Countermeasures; Mobile Peace of Mind; and Trusted Hardware supply.

Staffed by global experts and headquartered in the UAE, DarkMatter provides peace of mind through consulting and project implementations that are scalable to clients of any size and that address any domain of cyber security threat or risk. As a trusted partner to governments and critical infrastructure entities, the firm also works with leading global companies operating in the field of electronic and cyber security.

Agile and innovative, DarkMatter takes a comprehensive approach to helping its clients navigate the complex and ever-evolving world of threat and risk mitigation strategies, tools, policies and systems.