A Review Of A Cyber Security Conference: Looking Through The Lens Of A Speaker

When we stop learning, we stop living!

It was an excellent opportunity to be a part of the IMPACT 2024 Conference a few weeks ago at Canary Wharf, London. CybSafe organised the conference. A huge thank you to the organisers for the invitation, support and hospitality as well as for the vision of the conference.

It was a privilege to speak alongside other speakers such as Clare Patterson, Dr Ola Michalec, Dr Helen Jones, Prof Danny Dresner, and Prof Lynne Coventry. It was a very good opportunity for me to learn and contribute to the discussion on cyber security, more specifically, the human aspect of security.

The conference brought together like-minded people from different industry sectors. The audience included Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), cyber security practitioners, academics, postgraduate researchers, and taught students.

I will be sharing some of the experiences I had looking through the lens of a speaker.

After registration, I went into the conference hall and took my seat a few rows from the front of the auditorium. As a first-timer at the conference, observing, I was surprised and impressed as people trooped in. Before long, the conference hall was packed, and the team at CybSafe had to make room to accommodate more people.

This observation made me think that the conference attendees are keen and they are also

• eager to engage in an important subject
• eager to learn and contribute to the discussion
• eager to make a difference

There was excitement in the air!

Then Oz Alashe MBE, took to the podium to give an exciting and captivating opening speech, and the conference went into full swing.

The series of presentations began with Dr Jason R.C Nurse introducing the speakers. Dr Nurse injected some fun into the day by sharing some fun facts about the speakers as he introduced them (Lol!).

To cut a long, interesting story short for the sake of time or writing space, I was introduced and took the stage. The title of my presentation was “A revolution, please! Reforming cyber culture in higher ed.”

I talked about the central message of my presentation, which was

• The need for partnership between the public and private sectors: academia and industry
• The importance of developing a cyber-aware culture in organisations

The scene was now set for me to introduce the topic and some of the contributions of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): £95 billion to the UK economy and the challenges of cyber-attacks that constitute a threat to UK HEIs.

I then discussed the importance of Cyber Security Culture (CSC) as a means of minimising the risk of human error and complementing technical solutions. I also highlighted the challenge that remains, which is the need for more empirical evidence on the subject. This was the motivation for the two studies I conducted in some UK HEIs.

There is the need for a step change in cyber security culture.

Using the studies, I highlighted some problems that exist, such as the lack of communication needed to influence security culture, the culture shift in ways of working introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the lack of clear direction for fostering CSC.

I wrapped up the presentation by providing some recommendations:

• Creation and implementation of cyber security strategy
• The need for improvement in communication in HEIs
• The importance of providing cyber security training

The presentation ended with some great questions from the audience. At the end of the conference, many also came to thank me or ask further questions and advice. The openness, attention, participation, and feedback from the attendees were impressive. This confirmed the points I made earlier about the eagerness of the audience.

The observation I made from the discussions I had after the conference indicates that some of what I shared in my presentation about HEIs relates to other industry sectors. For example, someone from a legal firm confirmed they could relate to the culture I referred to as the anarchic individualistic culture of HEIs (I discussed this culture and others prevalent in different industry sectors in another post titled “The 1 Mistake Organisations Make In Implementing Cyber Security Intervention Programmes-That Ends Up Costing Money And The Trust Of Their Employees”).

Some of the takeaways from the IMPACT 2024 Conference are the following:

• There is hope! There is hope for the security of information assets as cyber security awareness increases
• More events and conferences like this are needed where academia and industry engage
• It is crucial to have more industry collaborations

As in any revolution, people play a significant role. It is therefore essential to create environments that allow engagement, openness and sharing of ideas.

Overall, the IMPACT 2024 Conference was impactful!