Group-IB, a leading creator of predictive cybersecurity technologies to investigate, prevent, and fight digital crime, today announced the launch of Masked Actors: BelArabi, the first Arabic-language edition of its global Masked Actors podcast. The series brings Group-IB’s frontline threat intelligence and investigations to Arabic-speaking audiences, opening with a deep dive into the motivations behind state-linked cyber activity and how geopolitics can shape the threat landscape across the Middle East, Türkiye, and Africa (META).
Masked Actors: BelArabi is an original Arabic-language production, not a translation of the English-language series. Developed for Arabic-speaking audiences across the region, it turns complex cyber threat intelligence into accessible, locally grounded conversations about who is behind cyberattacks, why they happen, and how understanding an adversary’s motivations and behavior can help organizations identify emerging threats earlier.
According to Group-IB’s High-Tech Crime Trends 2026 report, as digital ecosystems expand rapidly across the Middle East and Africa, the cyber threat landscape is becoming more complex and nuanced, with tracked phishing activity disproportionately targeting high-impact sectors like internet services (52.49%) and financial institutions (28.50%). With these evolving challenges and attacks impacting communities and organizations in the region, building broad digital risk awareness is more critical than ever.
Across the season, the series will examine the different forces shaping cybercrime in the region, including state-linked activity, the cybercriminal economy, and hacktivism, helping bridge this gap by breaking down how threat actors operate into simple, accessible language for diverse regional audiences. It will explore the boundaries between state, criminal, and hacktivist activity as they are becoming increasingly blurred, making an understanding of adversaries’ motivations, behavior, and infrastructure critical to effective cyber defense.
The recently aired first episode, hosted by Mohammad Younis, Cyber Investigation Specialist at Group-IB, in conversation with Mansour Alhmoud, Cyber Intelligence Analyst at Group-IB, explores what drives cyberattacks — from financial and ideological motivations to state-linked activity — before examining MuddyWater, a state-linked threat actor that Group-IB has tracked since 2017.
Drawing on Group-IB’s recent investigations into MuddyWater, the episode examines most recent threat activity targeting organizations across the META region, and highlighting Operation Olalampo, which occurred days before the US-Iran war started, and introduced four new malware families and showed signs of AI-assisted development. The research provides a real-world example of Group-IB’s Prediction-First approach: tracking malicious activity while it is still unfolding and giving organizations earlier visibility into emerging threats.
The series reflects Group-IB’s wider approach in the Middle East and Africa: combining global threat visibility with local expertise, languages, and region-specific intelligence. Group-IB operates Digital Crime Resistance Centers in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, where locally based experts investigate and analyze threats affecting organizations across the region.
“Cybercriminal groups rely on complex infrastructure to scale phishing and malware operations globally. Operation Synergia III demonstrates how close cooperation between law enforcement agencies and private-sector partners can significantly disrupt these networks. By sharing intelligence on malicious infrastructure and attacker tactics, Group-IB remains committed to supporting global efforts to dismantle cybercrime operations and protect organizations and individuals worldwide. It is not simply about explaining how an attack works. We want listeners to understand who may be behind it, what motivates them, and why that context matters to organizations operating here.”
Cyber Investigation Specialist at Group-IB
“Understanding why an attack happens is as important as understanding how. When we understand an adversary’s motivations, behavior, and infrastructure, we have more context to recognize emerging activity earlier. Our research into MuddyWater demonstrates why this matters: intelligence is most valuable when it gives defenders time to act while an operation is still unfolding, rather than simply explaining what happened afterward. ”
Cyber Intelligence Analyst at Group-IB
The launch comes ahead of Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October, reinforcing Group-IB’s commitment to making cybersecurity knowledge and threat intelligence more accessible to organizations and individuals across the region.
Masked Actors: BelArabi is available on Group-IB’s podcast page, YouTube channel, Spotify, and other major streaming platforms.
