Agenda 2021

Welcome & Cyber Ireland Update

Minister's Opening Address

The European Cyber Security Directive & Ireland

This session featured a Cyber Ireland update from Paul Walsh, Cyber Ireland Chairperson and an address from Minister Ossian Smyth, Minister of State for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Bart Groothuis, MEP & Rapporteur – Europe Cyber Security Directive, provided a special message for all conference attendees. 

 

 

Watch the Conference Opening here.

Paul Walsh
Chairperson, Cyber Ireland
Dr. Eoin Byrne

Cluster Manager, Cyber Ireland

10.00am

During this session, we launched the Cyber Security Sectoral Analysis. This important piece of research aims to understand the size of Ireland’s cyber security sector, its economic contribution and the potential growth of the sector over the coming 10 years.

Session 1 delivered some thought provoking discussions and 96% of surveyed conference attendees found this session highly engaging or engaging. The panel provided exceptional insights as well as their own opinions on what the Irish Cyber Security community should aim to achieve over the next ten years.

Chairs
Victoria MacKechnie
IDA Ireland
Dr Eoin Byrne
Cyber Ireland

Speakers
Pat Larkin
CEO Ward Solutions

Sam Donaldson
Director, Perspective Economics


Eoin Hinchy
Founder & CEO Tines

Emer O’Neill
Director VMware Security Response Centre

11.00am

Coffee and Networking Break

11.15am

Collaborative Responses to Cyber Attacks

Given the increasing number of cyber attacks and the HSE Ransomware attack this year, how can Government and Industry work together to address these challenges and improve Ireland’s cyber security preparedness.

Coordination and collaboration are, without doubt, especially important in the fight against cyber crime. Learn from the experts at the forefront of national cyber security how they came together to share information and resources when hit by a cyber attack.

Watch Session 2 here.

Chairs
Jacky Fox
Accenture
James Caffrey
NCSC

Speakers
Paul Cleary

Detective Chief Superintendent Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau 

Nicola O’Connor
CISRO, AIB

Steven Wilson

CEO Cyber Defence Alliance  

Dr. Richard Browne
Acting Director, NCSC

12:30am

Lunch, Networking & Ethical Hacking Demo

Ethical hacking is a process of detecting vulnerabilities in an application, system, or organisation’s infrastructure that an attacker can use to exploit an individual or organisation. They use this process to prevent cyberattacks and security breaches by lawfully hacking into the systems and looking for weak points.

Watch the Ethical Hacking Demo here.

Ethical Hacking Demo

Owen Pendlebury Head of Cyber Resilience at Bank of Ireland | Global Board of Directors @ OWASP Foundation

Elena Donea Security Testing Lead, Kontex

Mark O’Sullivan Security Testing Lead, Bank of Ireland

Jamie Scanlan Security Specialist, Accenture

Solving the Cyber Security Skills Shortage – Industry Perspectives

A Cyber Security Skills Report was conducted with Cyber Ireland members to provide a better understanding of the current cyber security labour market in Ireland. The survey found;

  • 62% of the companies surveyed would hire in 2021
  • 46% of security teams are understaffed or significantly understaffed
  • 48% of organisations have open or unfilled cyber security roles
 

How are organisations addressing these skills shortages, and what can your company do? Learn from leading organisations (large and small) who are creatively solving their cyber skills shortages through collaborative programmes with academia and training providers.

Watch Session 3 here

Chairs
Carmel Sommers
Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet
Dina Vyapuri
Techfindr

Speakers

Mathieu Gorge
CEO Vigi Trust

Liam Varley
Senior Manager Cyber Defence, State Street 

Heather Riccutio
Academic & Talent Outreach Program Manager – IBM

Matilda McVann
Global Head of Cyber Response, Zurich

2.30pm

Coffee and Networking Break

Building an R&D Ecosystem

For Ireland to become a leading location for cyber security innovation and solutions, we must build a strong national R&D ecosystem.

This panel was made up of representatives from leading international research centres and companies in Ireland engaged in collaborative R&D. 

Watch Session 4 here.

Chairs
Prof. Donna O’Shea Munster Technological University
Dr Tom Newe University Limerick

Speakers
Diarmuid O’Connor

R&D Funding Manager at Lightsource BP  

Judith Millar
Business Development Manager, CSIT 

Sarah Hayes
Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, Virginia Tech

Dr. Shanchieh Yang
Director of Global Outreach, Global Cybersecurity Institute

Brian Danaher
Senior Director Architecture & Shared services – CIO-CTO, VMware

Locknote & Conference Close

The final session of the Cyber Ireland National Conference featured Michael Daniel CEO & President Cyber Threat Alliance as Keynote speaker. Prior to joining Cyber Threat Alliance in February 2017, Michael served from June 2012 to January 2017 as Special Assistant to President Obama and Cybersecurity Coordinator on the National Security Council Staff. In this role, Michael led the development of national cybersecurity strategy and policy and ensured that the US government effectively partnered with the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and other nations.

Watch Keynote & Conference Close here.