Laura

20/08/2022

5 Takeaways from Infosecurity Europe 2022

Braving the rail strikes, SenseOn were thrilled to have a stand this year at Infosecurity Europe! As the biggest gathering of the information security community on the continent, we were delighted to meet hundreds of like-minded professional security folk over a cup of coffee. 

As ever, this year’s speakers exemplified the importance of information security and reiterated the message that we must come together stronger than ever if we are to win the battle against cyber adversaries. 

Throughout the three days, we were humbled to listen to some fantastic speakers, from whom we’ve compiled a list of our 5 key takeaways from the event.

1. ‘We’re in a perfect storm’

Former Director-General of Mi5, Eliza Manningham-Buller cited the climate crisis, pandemic, strained healthcare systems and the war in Ukraine as creating a ‘perfect storm’ of unrest. This is creating a geopolitical situation fraught with dangers, which is certainly true in cyberspace. 

In a context where you can’t hide from crises, you instead have to plan for them. It’s now more important than ever that we build coherent cyber-attack plans, with support from the right tools, that mitigate against the potential risks of the unknown.

2. Ransomware isn’t going anywhere.

In recent months, there has been a temporary lull of ransomware attacks outside of Eastern Europe, as huge ransomware gangs like Conti have been preoccupied with supporting Putin’s regime. Nevertheless, these gangs are bound to emerge from the war more aggressive than ever. 

Journalists Geoff White and Misha Glenny posited that, like North Korea, international economic sanctions could even cause a boom in the state-sponsored Russian cybercrime economy as Russia looks to recoup financial losses.

LtGen Tom Copinger-Symes CBE, deputy commander of UK Strategic Command, also warned that ‘ransomware isn’t going anywhere’ and we have to make preparations for its inevitable comeback. 

3. The cyber skills shortage is an emerging risk. 

Another feature of the current threat landscape that keeps LtGen Tom Copinger-Symes awake at night is the nationwide cyber skills shortage. 

Whilst ‘the cyber domain is open and violent’, the skills gap is ever-widening. This fact is leaving private businesses, as well as nation-states, in a precarious position. 

Whilst it will take a long time to fix this inherent cyber skills shortage, businesses can immediately mitigate this risk by purchasing products that act like a human analyst on loop with intelligent automation. 

4. Communicating the value of security to the board is key.

With highly publicised cyber-attacks now becoming a common occurrence, most boards now recognise that cyber security has well and truly become a cost of doing business. 

Despite this, security teams still have frustrations in communicating value to the board. Toks Oladuti, GD CISO at Dentons, suggested that security leaders need to consider the question ‘How does security play into what you really care about as a business?’ to reframe value in a meaningful way. 

For example, as a law firm, reputation and reliability is non-negotiable with Dentons. As such, cyber security expenditure needs to be seen as an investment in these core values. 

5. All is not lost! 

Whilst the current threat outlook is a concern for us all, it wasn’t all doom and gloom at Infosec 2022! 

Amongst the discussion of threats and frustrations faced by security teams, there was also a healthy amount of optimism. 

It was clear to see that there are some extremely exciting technological advancements coming through, especially within the detection and response space.

To sum up on some wise advice from Eliza Manningham-Buller, we can only overcome current adversities by being ‘open-minded and agile’. This means planning for the inevitable with watertight processes and the smartest tools on the market.

Sign up to our newsletter

Join thousands of like-minded professionals who are already 
receiving our blog updates and best practice guides.