The IT and info-security association ISACA’s inaugural CSX Europe conference convened last week in London. Presentations, breakout sessions and practical workshops lookws at the latest in cybersecurity.
Opening the event, Intel Security’s Raj Samani called for better collaboration and communication for us to truly understand and combat the threat landscape. He also emphasised that those on the more technical side need to be able to communicate effectively with business decision-makers and other stakeholders to help them better understand the dangers they face. The idea of better collaboration resonated across the floor, with speaker Aviram Zrahia, Juniper Networks also noting that “one company’s detection become another’s protection”.
IT security professionals have the skills and knowledge to prevent attacks, but consumers also need to help themselves and understand that connected toasters, fridges and cars all have security vulnerabilities, just like computers. Just as consumers take steps to secure their home PC, they should also be thinking about the threats that other connected devices might pose, the event, pictured, heard at the Intercontinental O2 Hotel.
Justine Bone, director and CEO, MedSec, presented the findings of ISACA’s new firmware security report in her keynote presentation. She highlighted just how easy it is for security to be overlooked when creating or distributing devices destined to form part of the Internet of Things.
On a macro level, nation states and international stakeholders face an unprecedented challenge. During a panel discussion, Mark Sayers of the UK’s Cabinet Office discussed the announcement of the UK Government’s £1.9bn investment in a national cybersecurity strategy. Writer Misha Glenny also attested to the size and scale of the challenge we collectively face, commenting on the intrinsic link between cybersecurity and geopolitics.
Closing the conference, the technology futurist Simon Moores observed that as the scale of the cyber security challenge becomes increasingly overwhelming, automated, cloud-based solutions involving artificial intelligence (AI) will be the inevitable future of the industry. Warning that organisations can no longer handle this alone, his talk raised questions across the floor around the changes AI is likely to bring.
Christos Dimitriadis, Ph.D. CISA, CISM, CRISC, chair of ISACA’s Board of Directors and group director of Information Security for INTRALOT, said: “Our inaugural CSX Europe conference was hugely successful—proving another valuable opportunity for global security experts to connect with their peers, share their insights and take on new learnings that will help to further grow their expertise. I look forward to continuing the success of the CSX series at our Asia Pacific event in Singapore.”
The conference’s networking also included a reception as part of ISACA’s Connecting Women Leaders in Technology scheme, which aims to advance female leadership within the global technology workforce.
The next event in the CSX series will be CSX 2016 Asia Pacific, set to make its debut on November 14 to 16, in Singapore. Next year’s CSX North America conference will run in Washington, DC, USA, from October 2 to 4, 2017, with the next CSX Europe event, in London on October 30 and November 1, 2017.
