Highlights from Europe’s No.1 Information Security Event

Europe’s leading information security event, Infosecurity Europe, opened today, welcoming Dame Stella Rimington, Former Director General of MI5, to present an Opening Keynote – during which she spoke of the recent terrorist attacks, many of the challenges intelligence agencies are currently facing and the “calls for change” in the way the Security Services are run.

In her session, Dame Stella Rimington reflected on her time in the Security Service and her work in counter-subversion, counter-espionage and counter-terrorism. She discussed the very different challenges and threats the security services are now up against compared to her time at the helm, demonstrating how the enemy has evolved over the years and how security and intelligence strategies have had to adapt in order to combat them. She also revealed how the role of women in the security services has transformed, how complex technology and communications have changed the game, and how a culture of blame can have a negative impact during times of crisis.

“The security world has grown and expanded; it’s been a story of constant change and constant growth, and now there are more calls for change in the face of the horrors that happened in the last few weeks,” Dame Stella Rimington told Infosecurity Magazine in an interview after her speech.

Her keynote kicked off a diverse programme of talks on the Keynote Stage, including a special focus on the risk landscape, Risks, Threats and Adversaries: What (or Who) should you be Worried About? This session brought together high profile speakers such as Infosecurity Hall of Fame Alumnus, Rik Ferguson, Special Advisor, Europol EC3; James Lyne, Global Head of Security Research at Sophos; and Peter Wood, CEO at ethical hacking firm First Base, who explored themes such as Getting to Know the Cyber Adversary and Countering Ransomware – When Should you Pay the Ransom?

On the exhibition floor, RadarServices conducted live hackings of a production plant while Pen Test Partners fulfilled their promise to hack “everything bar the kitchen sink”. Meanwhile there was a plethora of new launches from exhibitors, including the IISP’s introduction of a New Skills Framework, Infradata’s new nuQulus platform and Hypersocket Software’s new Hypersocket Prime application.

COMING TOMORROW….

• Jeremy Paxman will deliver his keynote speech Governments, Businesses and Other Scoundrels: Why Trust Anyone? Keynote Stage, 10:00
• A dedicated Women in Cybersecurity Networking Event, which will put careers for women in cybersecurity under the spotlight, will feature a talk by Kate Russell, BBC technology journalist, followed by a panel session entitled How to Sell your Professional Self in a Male Dominated Industry. Olympia Conference Centre, 08:30-11:00

• With the EU GDPR due to be implemented in 2018, Peter Brown, Senior Technology Officer at ICO will analyse the measures you should be taking to be compliant. This will be followed by a panel discussion on Privacy, Security and EU GDPR: Practitioners’ Guide to Compliance, with speakers from Costa Coffee, HSBC and ICO. Keynote Stage, 14:10-15:30

• The top four finalists from the UK’s Most Innovative Small Cybersecurity Company of the Year competition will pitch in front of the Infosecurity Europe audience and an expert judging panel chaired by Martin Chalmers, Managing Director, Aerospace Defence, Security & Technology, Atkins. Keynote Stage, 12:55-13:55

• Bruce Schneier, Security Technologist and Infosecurity Europe Hall of Fame Alumnus will take an in-depth look at AI technology in his presentation Spotlight on Disruptive Technologies: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: Cybersecurity Risk vs Opportunity? Keynote Stage, 11:05-11:45
• On the Strategy Talks stage Ilias Chantzos, Senior Director EMEA & APJ Government Affairs at Symantec, will discuss GDPR, Brexit & Security: Making it All Work, while a panel debate with speakers from Tripwire, IDC, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Publicis Groupe will debate CISO Confessions: Security Lessons Learned from Modern Day Cyber-Attacks. Meanwhile at the Tech Talks stage, CISCO will present a compelling talk entitled Insights into the Mind of a Hacker

Infosecurity Europe, Olympia, Hammersmith Road, London – opening times:

Tuesday 6 June & Wednesday 7 June: 09.30-17.30.  Thursday 8 June: 09.30-16.00.