What innovative cybersecurity solutions does your organisation offer, and how do they address the region’s unique challenges? 

SandboxAQ’s AQtive Guard is a pioneering cryptographic management platform that addresses one of the foundational challenges of cybersecurity. Cryptography, often opaque and difficult to manage, is the bedrock of Zero Trust models and data protection. AQtive Guard offers organisations end-to-end visibility into their cryptographic security posture, enabling seamless monitoring, management, and remediation of vulnerabilities. By automating cryptographic management and integrating with DevOps toolchains, the platform addresses critical issues like outdated algorithms, compliance with ever-evolving regulatory standards, and the threat posed by quantum computing. 

Marc Manzano, General Manager – Cybersecurity, SandboxAQ, said: “For the Middle East, which is facing heightened risks from emerging cyber threats, AQtive Guard equips organisations to proactively manage vulnerabilities, maintain compliance, and adopt quantum-resistant protocols without requiring major infrastructure changes.” 

How is your firm leveraging advanced technologies to combat emerging threats like AI-powered cyberattacks or sophisticated bugs? 

AQtive Guard leverages automation and AI-based tools to analyse and manage cryptographic vulnerabilities across networks, applications, and file systems. Its real-time monitoring capabilities ensure swift identification of cryptographic weaknesses and policy violations, reducing the risk of data breaches caused by outdated algorithms or insecure cryptographic implementations. The platform’s integration with CI/CD cycles and DevOps tools ensures that organisations can operationalise agile cryptography management, protecting their systems from both current and future threats, including those posed by quantum computing advancements. 

In your opinion, how can cybersecurity effectively tackle challenges related to AI misuse, or malicious activities online? 

SandboxAQ advocates for the use of defensive AI to counter offensive AI: automated anomaly detection, monitoring of network traffic, and flagging suspicious activity. Human oversight remains crucial—high-impact cases should be reviewed and AI systems routinely audited. Organisations must also take advantage of emerging best practices, like implementing Zero Trust architecture and quantum-resistant encryption, to maintain the best defensive posture. Finally, education is key: employees require training and consumers need to be educated about evolving AI-powered threats, so that each person can recognise the dangers and avoid security pitfalls. 

Can you share a recent case study or success story demonstrating the impact of your solutions?

SandboxAQ’s AQtive Guard has been deployed by leading global organisations, including the US Air Force, Vodafone, and several major banks. A notable milestone in 2024 was its partnership with Accenture to deploy AQtive Guard across new industries. Together, the companies launched an Encryption Risk Assessment service, providing deep visibility into cryptographic vulnerabilities before they could impact critical data across networks, file systems, and cloud environments.

 “SandboxAQ also helped NVIDIA create its cuQPC library to accelerate post quantum computing (PQC) algorithms and completed SoftBank’s AQtive Guard deployment,” said Marc. 

SandboxAQ published 18 peer-reviewed papers on cryptography throughout 2024 – one of which received the Best Paper award at Asiacrypt, one of the world’s three major cryptography conferences. 

What current industry trends are driving cybersecurity strategies, and how are you preparing for the future?

Having quantum computing on the near horizon is redefining cybersecurity strategies globally. Organisations must prepare for the post-quantum era by transitioning to quantum-resistant cryptographic standards. SandboxAQ is at the forefront of this shift, having co-developed two of NIST’s newly announced PQC algorithms in 2024. Additionally, the company’s active involvement in alliances like the PQC Coalition and The Linux Foundation’s PQC Alliance reflects its commitment to driving industry-wide adoption of quantum-safe protocols.

How do you see the role of cybersecurity evolving in a hyperconnected digital world? 

As the attack surface area continues to grow, cybersecurity will need to be more adaptive, automated, and integrated into broader IT ecosystems. Cryptographic resilience will play a pivotal role, especially as quantum computing becomes more mainstream. SandboxAQ’s vision aligns with this future, where seamless cryptographic management ensures compliance, security, and agility across diverse industries. 

Jack Hidary, CEO, SandboxAQ told Tech Revolt: “Many large enterprises have legacy systems that are riddled with old protocols such as MD5 and SHA-1 that have been broken for more than a decade. SandboxAQ’s AQtive Guard helps organizations transition to secure encryption protocols with forward-compatible security, including post-quantum cryptography standards, providing them with the software necessary to protect their customers, their intellectual property, and critical infrastructure.”