Dr Saif Abed, MD
Founding Partner & Director of Cybersecurity Advisory Services
Dr Saif Abed is a UK-trained physician and one of the world's most widely quoted experts on cyber threats to national healthcare systems. He has served as the lead expert on cybersecurity for the World Health Organization's Biosecurity and Health Security Protection (BSP) Unit, and as an advisor to NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care, the European Commission and HSE Ireland. He co-founded The AbedGraham Group in 2011.
100+
Speaking engagements, including 50+ conferences and multiple keynotes
50+
Press citations, BBC to Bloomberg; most prominent featured below
6
Government & intergovernmental bodies advised
2
WHO reports authored as lead expert, one presented at the UN Security Council
Advisory Roles
World Health Organization
Lead expert on cybersecurity for the Biosecurity and Health Security Protection (BSP) Unit. Lead author of two WHO reports on cyber attacks and disinformation in public health emergencies, convening collaborators from INTERPOL and multiple UN agencies.
​
Source: WHO announcement, February 2024
NHS England, Department of Health and Social Care & NHSX
Advisory engagements with England's national health bodies on cybersecurity and patient safety, including NHSX prior to its merger into NHS England.
European Commission
Independent expert to the Horizon 2020 programme, focused on healthcare and cybersecurity.
HSE Ireland
Advisor to Ireland's Health Service Executive on health system cybersecurity.
Research & Publications
As lead expert to the WHO's BSP Unit, Dr Abed was lead author of two major WHO reports, organising contributions from INTERPOL, the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, UNODC, UNICC, UNICRI and the CyberPeace Institute. The findings of the first report were presented to the UN Security Council by the WHO Director-General in November 2024.
World Health Organization
Lead author. Findings presented to the UN Security Council, November 2024.
26 January 2024 · Report PDF
World Health Organization
Lead author, in collaboration with INTERPOL and multiple UN agencies.
26 January 2024 · Report PDF
WHO Newsroom
Official announcement of both reports.
6 February 24
In the Press
Dr Abed has been cited in more than 50 articles on cyber incidents affecting healthcare and government: the Synnovis pathology attack, NHS credential theft campaigns and state-sponsored intrusions. The most prominent coverage is below.
BBC News
"Dr Saif Abed has long warned that such an attack could kill a patient."
28 December 2020 · Gordon Corera
Financial Times
Told the FT he believed more patients had died in recent years than publicly reported.
25 June 2025
Bloomberg
"The NHS has some of the best patient safety and cybersecurity standards in the world. They are just immensely poorly enforced."
26 June 2024
Financial Times
"From a data privacy and security perspective it is entirely problematic…"
24 October 2024
Digital Health
Delivered at the HETT 2025 conference, London.
9 October 2025
Digital Health
"…likely just the tip of the iceberg."
23 January 2025
Digital Health
"The NHS, unfortunately, lacks transparency with the public when it comes to the scale of data breaches."
July 2026
Digital Health
Called for NHS procurement reform around DCB0129, DSPT and MHRA requirements.
31 March 2026
The Sun
"This is exactly the type of hack that's the first step for launching catastrophic ransomware attacks…"
5 July 2026 · Joe Mannion
The I Paper
11 October 2024 · Richard Holmes
Speaking & Conferences
Dr Abed has delivered more than 100 speaking engagements, including over 50 in-person conferences and multiple keynote addresses.
HIMSS
Speaker & moderator: HIMSS global events
"Cybersecurity is patient safety."
HETT 2025
Keynote remarks on NHS cyber security and patient safety
London, October 2025
PrivSec Global
Speaker: privacy & security
6 August 2025
MSS Forum
Speaker: Managed Security Services Forum, Healthcare
Work directly with Dr Abed's team.
Cybersecurity audit, vCISO, incident response and managed security services for health IT vendors and healthcare providers.