Cybersecurity 2023 and beyond – implementing the government strategy

Our regular chairman, David Bicknell, welcomes all delegates, sponsors, and speakers to our conference and sets out the day’s agenda.

We begin our conference with a keynote from David Knight-Croft, Head of Cyber Security Policy and Strategy at the Department of Health and Social Care who will present an overview of the recently announced strategy.

Difficulties in attracting, hiring and retaining qualified staff continues to be the top challenge for public bodies looking to improve their cyber resilience. Our panellists will discuss strategies and approaches that work, as well as areas where the public sector needs to raise its game.

Many organisations rely on Managed Service Providers to provide essential digital services such as outsourcing an organisation’s IT or managing key business processes. Managed Service Providers play a critical role in the modern global digital economy. However, when these suppliers are providing critical services at scale, their vulnerabilities may present a threat to the security and stability of key parts of the economy.

This session focuses on some the information around tackling these vulnerabilities and forging a stronger and more secure offering for public sector organisations.

Government is rightly concerned about the risk to its security when a supplier is compromised. What should public sector cybersecurity providers be doing to assure the security of their own operations?

The Cyber Assessment Framework was first developed by NCSC in 2018 to improve the cyber resilience of the UK’s critical national infrastructure. But it was rolled out to all government departments last year as part of the Government Cyber Security Strategy, and is now the central tool that departments should be using to assess their resilience across a range of objectives and indicators.

The CAF is not about box-ticking. It’s a tool for constant learning and improvement, and an effective assurance process is as much about understanding your department’s objectives and culture as it is about technical controls.

 

Cybercrime is touching the lives of more and more ordinary citizens, particularly the most vulnerable in our society. What are the threats, and what can public bodies do to help?

The most sophisticated organisations are increasingly using data to predict and detect cyber attacks. This panel discusses the possibilities, and what’s involved.

This session is a fireside chat between Jessica Figueras, Vice Chair of the UK Cyber Security Council and Robert di Schiavi, Head of Cyber Security at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. Jessica and Robert will be discussing some of the hot topics in public sector cybersecurity.

Two years of a global pandemic has radically changed norms and expectations when it comes to remote and hybrid working. How have organisations adapted their cybersecurity practices to address the greater challenges?

 

Security Operation Centre staff workloads have increased during the pandemic, driven by a higher volume of attacks, more sensitive event detection and higher executive awareness. What can you do to tackle stress and burnout, and promote a healthy and effective working culture?

Our chair, David Bicknell, summarises some of the of the sessions that you have heard throughout the event.