IESE Conference 2023

Wired for theft: The State of Play

Wednesday 22nd November | 10:00 – 18:00 | Welcome Building, Eastbourne

The IESE Conference 2023

As an industry, local government has become used to talking about cyber security risks as threats, but this is no longer appropriate – while ‘threat’ implies impending danger, the risks are real, present, and happening now. UK councils are dealing with thousands of attempted cyber-attacks every day, with 2.3 million cyber-attacks being detected in 2022 and a 14% year-on-year rise in the number of cyber-attacks. 1.2 million pieces of malware were released in 2022 with council systems only able to identify and defend against an average of 24% of them.  

The full agenda for the event is available to be viewed here.

What is our conference about?

Our conference will focus on practical examples on how to combat the real and immediate risks being faced by local government both as direct targets and incidental collateral damage. We will cover:

• Practical and clear steps on what officers and members can be doing to better-protect themselves at work, at home and on the go. 
• How to extend our umbrella of protection around your supply chain, your local businesses and most importantly your community to ensure that we are all safe to live, work and play in the digital world. 
• A showcase of a handful of solutions to help meet the specific cyber-challenges your council facing, and this will cover awareness and training, testing people and processes, detection and endpoint protection, and response and recovery.  

Conference Segments

Wednesday 22nd November 2023

Over the course of the day, we will be discussing a range of cyber challenges that are currently impacting public service roll-out, with a handful of key speakers who will be presenting their approaches and solutions to their own challenges. Sessions will include:

• Lay of the land: the current cyber landscape and global threats.
• The national local authority position on combatting cyber attacks.
• Building your cyber defence brick-by-brick.
• How being prepared can help you to “fail well” in a cyber incident.
• Combatting public sector cyber security challenges – speed dating exercise.
• Leading well: understanding the cyber risks for your organisation.
• Leading well in cyber resilience
• Keeping your Communications Secure.
• Keeping yourself secure from your supply chain.
• Councillor Protect – safe-working for members.
• Protecting Parish & Town Councils and Small Organisations.
• Safe in the office – defending against zero-day attacks.
• The future of Cyber Security.
• Cyber Security Escape Room!
• A live-hack!

Key speakers

This year, our key speakers include:

• Kurtis Toy, vCISO and Convener of the Cyber Centre of Excellence.
• Dr Andrew Larner, Chief Executive of iESE.
• Major General Martin Smith, Managing Director of CyberPrism.
• David Charters, Former Senior Intelligence Officer.
• Irene Coyle, Chief Operating Officer at OSP Cyber Academy.
• Sandip Patel, Barrister, King’s Counsel.
• Dougie Grant, Managing Director Europe & Global Head Incident Management at Nihon Cyber Defence.
• David Woodfine, Managing Director of Cyber Security Associates.
• James Griffiths, Technical Director of Cyber Security Associates.
• Colin Jupe, Director of Assurity Systems Ltd.
• Niall Burns, Chief Executive of Subrosa Group.
• David Tutt, Chairman of iESE Ltd.
• John Comber, Former Chief Exec of Royal Borough of Greenwich, iESE Associate.
• Annette Roberts, Corporate Director of South Staffordshire Council.
• Louis Holmes, Digital and System Transformation Projects Manager, Care England.
• Jon McGinty, Chief Executive of Gloucester City Council.
• Iain Johnston, Managing Director, Blackwired.
• Thomas Judd, Business Development, Glasswall.
• Rod Hawkins, Sales Director, Glasswall.
• Douglas Orr, Chief Executive, Message Matrix.