CQR unveils FENNEC, a breakthrough AI-powered OT cybersecurity platform delivering 90% faster compliance and stronger protection for Saudi Arabia’s critical infrastructure.
Saudi Arabia’s cybersecurity landscape just received a major boost as CQR, a fast-growing Saudi OT (operational technology) security startup, CQR, officially unveiled FENNEC—a next-generation, AI-powered cybersecurity platform engineered to safeguard critical national infrastructure.
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According to the Saudi National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA), OT security readiness remains a top priority for industrial operators across the Kingdom, and with CQR unveiling FENNEC, security will improve the more.
Designed and built locally, FENNEC is the first Saudi-developed platform to integrate full-stack OT visibility with embedded AI monitoring, enabling asset owners to reduce compliance effort by up to 90% while enhancing real-time threat detection across industrial environments.
As legacy industrial systems prove increasingly vulnerable, and traditional IT tools continue to fall short, FENNEC introduces a fully localized, end-to-end security framework tailored for oil and gas operations, water utilities, energy grids, and manufacturing facilities.
The platform consolidates compliance automation, protocol-aware monitoring, threat detection, and risk management into one modular OT-native system, shifting industrial cybersecurity from reactive firefighting to proactive defense.
“This is exactly the kind of cyber-physical innovation our region needs, technology that understands the local environment and is capable of meeting it with precision,” said Shane Shin, Founding Partner at Shorooq Partners. “FENNEC isn’t just a tool; it’s a strategic advantage for operators securing our most vital infrastructure.”
FENNEC ships with native support for major local and global frameworks, including NCA OTCC, Aramco’s SAEP-99, IEC 62443, and ISO 27001.
Industrial operators gain bilingual audit reporting, automated evidence collection, and pre-configured policy templates, allowing organizations to meet national mandates with far less manual overhead. From deployment day, operators can identify compliance gaps across all zones, assets, and plants at scale.
Unlike IT-centric monitoring tools, FENNEC is built for OT and IoT environments. Its architecture identifies vulnerabilities in software and firmware, uncovering previously hidden risks.
The platform also enables zero-trust micro-segmentation without additional hardware or operational downtime—ensuring strong protection without disrupting production.
FENNEC’s embedded AI Monitoring and SOC modules provide continuous detection and response for both connected and air-gapped industrial networks. Alerts are correlated against MITRE ATT&CK for ICS, complete with AI-generated root-cause explanations and recommended response actions.
Importantly, all telemetry stays within the customer’s environment, aligning fully with Saudi Arabia’s data sovereignty requirements.
Early deployments in energy and industrial facilities across Saudi Arabia show strong results, including:
- 90% reduction in audit preparation time
- Faster mean-time-to-detection (MTTD)
- Improved collaboration between IT and OT security teams
As regional governments tighten infrastructure security mandates, CQR’s FENNEC platform positions the startup as a key driver of Saudi Arabia’s next phase of industrial cybersecurity innovation, combining local engineering, embedded intelligence, and policy-aligned automation.
