DarkMatter
Abu Dhabi-based cybersecurity and digital intelligence company founded by Faisal Al Bannai in the mid-2010s; its cyber activities were reported to have moved to Digital14 by 2021.
Industry: Cybersecurity and digital intelligence | Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | Founded: 2014
About DarkMatter
DarkMatter Group is a private cybersecurity company based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was founded by Faisal Al Bannai, who had earlier built the mobile phone retailer Axiom Telecom in 1997. Sources differ on the launch year, with Wikipedia and the Associated Press pointing to 2014 and 2015 respectively. Al Bannai introduced the company publicly at a summit in Dubai, where it presented itself as a digital defence and intelligence provider for the nation. Reuters reported in 2018 that about 80 percent of its work was for the UAE government and related entities, and that its headcount had reached roughly 650. The company recruited staff from international technology firms such as Intel and BlackBerry, as well as people with backgrounds in Western military and intelligence agencies, including the US National Security Agency. Karim Sabbagh joined DarkMatter in 2018 as chief executive after leading the satellite operator SES, taking responsibility for group strategy and its four practices. Al Bannai moved from chief executive to managing director. Gulf Business reported in 2019 that the founder planned to divest his entire stake in the company. Al Bannai later became chairman of the board of EDGE Group, according to Gulf News. DarkMatter marketed cybersecurity, secure communications and digital transformation services. It inaugurated an R&D programme, and in an interview with The National its chief executive discussed plans for expansion in Saudi Arabia in 2019. The company has also been the subject of press and legal scrutiny. Reuters reported in 2019 that DarkMatter staff took part in Project Raven, a programme that carried out hacking operations on behalf of the UAE government against activists, journalists and officials of rival governments. DarkMatter rejected the reports, calling them false, defamatory and unsubstantiated. The US Department of Justice later announced deferred prosecution agreements with three former US intelligence and military personnel over their work in the UAE; the agreements involved combined fines of about USD 1.685 million. Mozilla separately refused DarkMatter's bid to become a trusted certificate authority in its browser, citing concerns about surveillance. A complaint filed by the journalist Ghada Oueiss names DarkMatter and Al Bannai among defendants; no ruling is reported. Business & Human Rights Resource Centre profiles and Wikipedia state that in 2021 the UAE group Digital14 took over DarkMatter, becoming its parent and distributing its digital intelligence products and services.
Leadership
- Karim Sabbagh, Chief Executive Officer (from April 2018)