A panel of industry experts will help promote the importance of cyber security against the backdrop of rising global threats as part of two events aimed at Scottish businesses.
Aberdeen-based cyber security firm, The TechForce, has announced educational events in the Granite City and Edinburgh that will explore the business and organisational challenges posed by cyber security.
‘A hacker, a CISO and a policeman’ promises to deliver unique insight around how companies and individuals can protect themselves against increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks through greater understanding of the specific threats they face.
Mike Jones – a reformed international hacker, also known as ‘sting3r’ – will be joined by Stuart McAdam, detective chief inspector, cybercrime at Police Scotland at both events.
The Aberdeen line-up is completed by Malcolm Norman, chief information and security officer (CISO) at energy services Wood, while Richard Grey, head of information security for cloud accounting software firm FreeAgent, will share his expertise with the Edinburgh audience.
These free-to-attend events are being held at the Balmoral Hub, Wellington Circle, Aberdeen (10am-12:30pm, Wednesday, August 28) and the Lindsay Stewart Theatre, Craiglockhart, Edinburgh Napier University (6pm-8:30pm, Thursday, August 29).
More information, including how to register for both events, can be found here for Aberdeen and for Edinburgh here.
These latest events are supported by the Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC), Scotland IS and ONE CodeBase. They follow a tour of speaking engagements, organised by The TechForce and Mike Jones, that were held across the UK in February and attracted more than 600 people.
Jai Aenugu, managing director at The TechForce, said: “With concerns around cyber security growing all the time and high-profile examples regularly featured in the mainstream media, it’s important that businesspeople can access straightforward advice about the dangers involved.
“I’m delighted to welcome such an esteemed panel of speakers who will be eager to share their own unique perspective on how to tackle the issue and what still needs to be done to ensure business continuity and what steps they can take to protect their assets and data.
“It promises to be another healthy turnout following the success of similar events held in both cities earlier this year. I’m looking forward to catching up with some familiar faces but also educating those who are joining us for the first time.”
A former US military intelligence expert and Iraq War veteran, Mike Jones has utilised his experience to perform numerous security tests for the US Department of Defense, major financial institutions, casinos and other large organisations from his base in Houston. He is a self-confessed former member of the infamous hacking group, Anonymous.
He said: “In this day and age of data loss, cyber-warfare, identity theft and ‘hacktivism’, it is more vital than ever before to know your adversary. Coming from those worlds gives me a unique insight into part of the internet that is often not particularly well understood to help users prevent the pain of being a target.”