Censys hires first dedicated regional leader for Middle East, Turkey, and Africa

The cybersecurity company, which maps internet-facing infrastructure to help organisations identify exposure before attackers do, is building out a local team as demand for attack surface intelligence grows across the region.

Censys, a US-based cybersecurity company that specialises in mapping internet-facing assets and infrastructure to help organisations identify vulnerabilities before they can be exploited, has appointed Meriam ElOuazzani as Vice President for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, the first time the company has created a dedicated leadership role for the region.

ElOuazzani will oversee revenue growth, partnerships, and the broader go-to-market strategy across META. She joins from SentinelOne, where she served as Senior Regional Director and built the company's regional commercial operation from the ground up. Before that, she held multiple leadership roles at VMware across the Middle East and North Africa, focused on channel development and security, and led regional product sales for mobility at Cisco Systems. Her career in cybersecurity and enterprise technology spans more than two decades.

Two additional hires accompany the appointment: Rajaee Al-Dalgamouni joins as Regional Sales Lead for META, and Ahmed Ehlayel as Solutions Engineer, both reporting to ElOuazzani.

"The META region is at an inflection point in cybersecurity maturity," ElOuazzani said. "Across the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, governments and commercial organisations are moving beyond perimeter defence and demanding real-time threat detection and operational visibility into their digital footprint."

Censys builds its platform around continuous scanning of internet-facing services, assets, and critical infrastructure, giving security teams a real-time view of what is exposed and where threats may be emerging. The company has an existing presence in the Middle East through a partnership with Rilian Technologies, which brings its internet intelligence and industrial control systems capabilities to sovereign governments and critical infrastructure operators.

"This deepens our investment in a region where Censys has established strong momentum," said Sarah Ashburn, Chief Revenue Officer at Censys.

The expansion reflects a wider pattern of cybersecurity vendors building dedicated regional teams in the Gulf and broader META market, as government-led digital transformation programmes increase the attack surface and raise the stakes for security investment across both public and private sectors.