The Middle East and Africa cybersecurity exhibition and conference, owned by Dubai World Trade Centre and held at Expo City, where regional government agencies, enterprise security buyers, vendors and ethical hackers meet on one floor.
GISEC Global, the Gulf Information Security Expo and Conference, is the largest cybersecurity exhibition in the Middle East and Africa. It is owned and run by Dubai World Trade Centre, which makes it a state-backed commercial platform rather than an independent research conference. The 2027 edition runs from 4 to 6 May at the Dubai Exhibition Centre in Expo City, a return to the spring slot the show held for years. The 2026 edition ran in September at the same venue, a move from the Downtown Dubai halls where the show previously ran. The organiser reports more than 750 exhibitors and over 25,000 visitors drawn from more than 180 countries, with national pavilions, a vendor exhibition, a multi-stage conference and a hacking arena running in parallel.
GISEC exists to connect regional security budgets with international supply. The Gulf states have spent heavily on national cyber capability, and GISEC is where that spending meets vendors: cloud security, identity, operational technology protection, sovereign cloud, national critical infrastructure defence. For European and North American vendors, it is the standard entry point to Gulf Cooperation Council procurement. For regional CISOs, it is a single week in which the entire supplier market is physically present.
The show splits into a large exhibition floor organised by country pavilion and technology category, a conference running several parallel stages, and dedicated zones for offensive security and for early-stage companies. The conference mixes national policy keynotes, CISO panels and vendor-led technical sessions. The startup zone runs pitch competitions with regional investors present.
GISEC is a procurement show first. Its centre of gravity is the exhibition floor and the national delegations, not original security research: teams looking for offensive research disclosure go to Black Hat Europe or Black Hat MEA, and teams looking for a European regulatory conversation go to it-sa or the InCyber Forum. GISEC's distinguishing feature is government participation at scale, with regional cyber authorities present as hosts rather than as guests.
Primarily a trade exhibition with a conference attached. The exhibition floor and national pavilions carry the event; the conference programme supports it. Research disclosure is not the point.
The 2026 edition was first scheduled for 5 to 7 May, then moved to September, and the organiser published more than one September slot, with its home page carrying 16 to 18 September. For 2027 the organiser's home page (gisec.ae) lists 4 to 6 May 2027, back in the spring slot, and this page follows that listing. Dates for this show have shifted before, so anyone buying flights should reconfirm with the organiser directly.
Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City, not the Downtown halls where the show used to run. The confusion is understandable: Dubai World Trade Centre both owns GISEC and operates both venues, so "hosted by Dubai World Trade Centre" describes the company, not the address. Major Dubai shows have been migrating to the expanded Expo City halls through 2026.
Dubai World Trade Centre owns the show and also operates the halls it runs in, which is unusual: the venue operator programmes the event itself rather than renting space to a third-party organiser. It runs two Dubai venues, the Downtown convention complex and the Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City, and the 2027 edition sits in the second, as the 2026 edition did. Expo City's exhibition halls have been expanding through 2026 and have absorbed several of the emirate's largest trade shows.
GISEC is the commercial gateway to Gulf security budgets, a state-backed exhibition where national cyber agencies, vendors and ethical hackers share one floor and where regional procurement starts.
Visitor registration runs through the official website. Trade visitor entry to the exhibition is typically free with advance registration, while conference delegate passes and training sessions are paid; 2027 delegate tiers had not been published as of 26 October 2026; check the registration page. Exhibitor and pavilion pricing is quoted directly by Dubai World Trade Centre.
4 to 6 May 2027 at the Dubai Exhibition Centre, Expo City Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Trade visitor entry to the exhibition is normally free with prior registration. Conference and training passes are paid and sold separately.
The organiser reports attendance from more than 180 countries, with the core audience drawn from the Gulf states, the wider Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.
| Official website | https://gisec.ae/ |
| About the show | https://gisec.ae/about-the-show |
| Agenda | https://gisec.ae/agenda |