The cybersecurity reboot: time to start over?

17^th annual e-Crime & Cybersecurity Congress
5^th & 6^th March 2019, London, UK

Time to tear up the cybersecurity playbook?

There are two narratives in cyber: the first is the public, jargon-filled, tech-heavy story that emphasizes the uniqueness of the challenge, its complexity and the need for secrecy and lack of scrutiny. That narrative is in trouble.

The second is the private reality: that digital transformation has now outpaced traditional corporate and government structures and processes to such an extent that the entire edifice is threatened by cyber attacks.

When pizza companies take all their orders over mobile apps, and an hour’s downtime can cost a million pounds, digitalisation has turned a food business into a tech business and made cybersecurity its most significant operational risk.

When a hotel or airline gets most of its business through a third-party comparison app, it’s lost control of its customer interface, relationship, AND its security.

But neither business nor government are anywhere close to responding appropriately – and regulator, stakeholders, customers and the press have noticed.

To survive, businesses need to be digitally fit. To be digitally fit, they need to be cybersecure. And to be cybersecure they need to change a lot more than just technology. Cybersecurity has to be properly resourced, staffed with the right people and integrated into a true operational risk management model.

So this year’s annual e-Crime & Cybersecurity Congress will look at the true drivers and necessities of cybersecurity and the new thinking, technologies and people needed to stay digitally fit.

• From bolt-on to built-in: industry and government need to stop thinking about cybersecurity and start thinking about cyber risk management: what is the difference and why does it matter so much?

• From techie to business partner: how can today’s CISOs jump the gap from IT specialist to business risk manager? How do you implement holistic cybersecurity?

• It's all about the money: the financial impact of a breach on the bottom line has, up until now, been small enough that companies are prepared to chance it. But now investors and fund managers are taking an interest. Even without a breach, they’re evaluating your cybersecurity. And if they don’t like it, they can hit your company where it hurts: your share prices.

• The changing nature of the crown jewels: is today’s obsession with data and breaches the right way to think about businesses’ cyber dependencies? What are the real weak links and how to protect them?

• Building a best practice cybersecurity team: how, how much and who?

• How must CISOs adapt to a new environment of scrutiny? As cyber becomes part of corporate governance and social responsibility, what does this mean for the role?

• The UK’s first cybersecurity class-action suits are coming, and more will follow as the use of NDAs to hide breaches becomes unacceptable. What happens when the true scale of cyber failure becomes clear to customers, citizens and employees?

• Cybersecurity as a competitive advantage: the myth that businesses are in this together will be exposed. Over time, companies with secure apps will beat those with insecure apps. Companies with better reputation for security will beat those with a worse reputation. Management knows this and will respond. What does this mean for the CISO?

So is it time to tear up the cybersecurity rulebook? This edition of the e-Crime and Cybersecurity Congress will look at the unspoken truths of cybersecurity, the things we all know and say in private, but which must be confronted if the industry is to meet the challenges of this new era. And of course we will also be looking at the latest technologies and third-party solutions on the market to help you improve your security posture.

Join us on March 5^th and 6^th 2019.