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2025 Agenda

9:00am

WELCOME

Shay Cloherty
Director of Revenue – Experiences & Reader Revenues, Business Post

MORNING SESSION

9:05am

OPENING REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR

Elaine Burke
Sci-tech journalist, editor and broadcaster
9:10am

KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:

Puneet Kukreja
Partner, Head of Cyber UK & Ireland, EY
9:40am

PANEL DISCUSSION:

Cyber Resilience in Europe: Governing Trust in a Zero Trust World

Europe is setting a global benchmark for digital regulation through the EU AI Act and the Cyber Resilience Act. These new rules place cybersecurity, accountability, and transparency at the core of how organisations design and use technology… and AI. This panel will explore the governance challenges and opportunities posed by these frameworks, and how businesses can remain both compliant and resilient in a Zero Trust environment.

Discussion Points:

  • What the EU AI Act and Cyber Resilience Act mean for cybersecurity strategy and product design
  • Practical steps to adopt Zero Trust in line with EU regulations
  • Balancing innovation, usability, and security in compliance efforts
  • Managing overlapping regulatory obligations across security, AI, and data protection
Andrzej Kawalec
Head of Security Portfolio, Vodafone Business
Dr. Maria Grazia Porcedda
Assistant Professor in IT Law, School of Law, Trinity College Dublin
Francisco Matos
Associate General Counsel, Cybersecurity Law, Meta
Gerard P. Craughwell
Independent Senator, Seanad Éireann
10:15am

FIRESIDE CHAT:

The Dark Reality of Digital Identity Theft

James Blake, TV Presenter (BBC’s Hunting the Catfish Crime Gang) & Entrepreneur shares his extraordinary journey into the dark world of online identity theft. After discovering that his name and image were being used in global romance scams, James embarked on a multi-year investigation that exposed a sophisticated criminal network linked to human trafficking and organised fraud. Through first-hand accounts, exclusive insights from his documentary work, and a raw look at the personal and professional toll of identity fraud, James sheds light on the real-world impact of cybercrime. This session offers cybersecurity professionals a unique perspective on the human side of online scams – from the vulnerabilities that make them possible to the international scale of their operations. James’ story acts as a cautionary tale and a call to action for greater vigilance, collaboration, and ethical responsibility in the fight against cyber-enabled exploitation.

James Blake
TV Presenter & Entrepreneur
10:35am

PANEL DISCUSSION:

Identity Theft in the Digital Age: Lessons from the recent retail Cyber Hacks 

The recent retail cyber attacks, where a failure in two-factor authentication (2FA) led to the theft of sensitive customer data, underscores the vulnerabilities in authentication systems. This panel will examine how weaknesses in 2FA can be exploited for identity theft and explore strategies for improving cybersecurity to prevent such breaches.

  • The evolving risks of identity theft and the limitations of traditional two-factor authentication
  • Securing authentication mechanisms across mobile, web, and third-party services
  • The role of adaptive authentication as the future of secure identity verification
  • Legal and regulatory implications for UK businesses following identity theft incidents
Chris Donnelly
CIO, BWG Foods UC
Michael (Jock) Mullen,
Detective Superintendent, Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau
Shane Sweeney
Head of InfoSec & Cyber Risk, AIB
11:00am

11.00am - 11.30am:

Networking Coffee Break & Exhibition Viewing

STREAM 1: The Human Firewall: Strengthening the Weakest Link in Cyber Defence

11:30am

OPENING REMARKS FROM STREAM CHAIR

Elaine Burke
Sci-tech journalist, editor and broadcaster
11:35am

KEYNOTE:

Simplifying Cybersecurity

As cybersecurity has grown more complex with escalating threats and consequences, revisiting the fundamentals takes extra importance. Learn how to cut through the noise to what matters most for practical and effective security. We’ll explore simple things you can do to stop cyberattacks so you can better protect your organization today.

Seamus Lennon
Vice President of Operations for EMEA, ThreatLocker
11:50am

PANEL DISCUSSION:

Elevating AI Education Across the Business 

With AI playing an increasingly central role in both cyberattacks and defence mechanisms, educating staff on AI-driven cyber threats is vital to protecting the business. This panel will explore how organisations can equip their workforce with the knowledge and skills needed to identify, prevent, and respond to AI-powered attacks. 

  • Understanding the impact of AI on modern cyberattacks and how it enhances threat sophistication
  • Assessing the current level of AI awareness and security skills within the organisation
  • The role of leadership in promoting AI literacy and building a security-conscious culture
  • Effective strategies for educating non-technical staff on AI-driven cyber threats and detection techniques.
  • Preparing the business for future AI threats: Creating a culture of continuous learning and adaptation
Jimmy Hennessy
Head of Data Science & AI, ACI Worldwide
Joy Emedom
Senior Security Consultant, Cyber for School Girls
Kevin Curran
Professor of Cyber Security, Ulster University
12:45pm

Case Study:

Cybersecurity Trends and predictions: research from Arctic Wolf labs and the current threats and decisions leaders should be aware of

How do you lead when every second counts? This session reveals the inside story of managing a cyber attack in real time. From chaos to containment and the hard-earned lessons in resilience and recovery.

David Bradley
Senior Systems Engineer, Arctic Wolf

STREAM 2: Beyond Compliance: Building Resilient Organisations in a Regulated World

11:30am

OPENING REMARKS FROM STREAM CHAIR 

11:35am

PANEL DISCUSSION -

EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and the Impact in the SME sector

How will the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) impact Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that manufacture or distribute digital products? CRA mandates that these products meet specific cybersecurity requirements throughout their lifecycle, from design to end-of-life. While aiming to enhance digital product security, the CRA poses compliance challenges for SMEs due to its broad scope and technical requirements. Our panel will discuss these challenges and the potential impact within the SME Sector, along with providing information on how companies can prepare for the act.

Neha Agrawal
Neha Agrawal, Director - Cybersecurity, EY Ireland
Patricia Shields
CEO & Co Founder, Cyber Cert Labs
12:10pm

SPOTLIGHT SESSION:

Securing the Edge: IoT, Compliance & the Next Frontier of Cyber Risk

As IoT devices multiply and edge computing expands, new cybersecurity risks and compliance demands are emerging. This session explores how edge infrastructure is reshaping IoT security, what regulations like the Cyber Resilience Act mean for connected devices, and how organisations can secure data and operations beyond the traditional network perimeter.

Dr Diarmuid Ó Briain
Head of the Department of Electronic Engineering and Communications, SETU
12:25pm

PANEL DISCUSSION:

Resilience by Design: Embedding Security into the Fabric of the Organisation

As cyber threats grow in complexity and frequency, it is no longer enough to treat security as an add-on. How can organisations can build resilience from the outset by integrating security into their core structures, processes, and technologies, ensuring they remain adaptive in the face of evolving risks, AI-driven threats, and heightened regulatory pressures?   

  • Zero trust in practice: Building adaptive security architectures
  • Preparing for AI-driven threats
  • Engineering principles for modern threats and regulatory demands
Jan Carroll
Founder, Fortify Institute
Mark Ryan
Head of IT, Cityjet DAC
1:00pm

1.00pm - 2.00pm:

Networking Lunch Break & Exhibition Viewing

MAIN STAGE: Future Tech Beyond the Horizon

2:00pm

WELCOME BACK

Elaine Burke
Sci-tech journalist, editor and broadcaster
2:05pm

PRESENTATION:

From ChatGPT to Deepseek & Beyond – Protecting Data for the Next AI Boom

Rich Beckett
Solutions & Strategy Office - Netskope
2:20pm

PANEL DISCUSSION:

Is Malware Getting Smarter? Exploring AI-Driven Threats and Solutions

As cyber threats evolve, so too does the sophistication of malware. Powered by artificial intelligence, today’s malware is becoming more adaptive, stealthy, and difficult to detect. This panel will explore into how AI is being used to create advanced cyber threats and discuss the cutting-edge solutions designed to combat them.

  • How AI is enabling smarter, more evasive malware tactics
  • Detecting and responding to AI-enhanced cyber threats: Current challenges and solutions
  • Predictive threat intelligence: How AI can help foresee and prevent attacks
  • Ethical considerations of using AI in both attack and defence
Adnan Ahmed
Head of ICT and Chief Information Security Officer, Ornua
Des O Ceallaigh
Group, CISO, Paysend
Niamh Vianney Muldoon
EMEA Chief Information Security Officer & Innovation Lead, BNY
3:10pm

PANEL DISCUSSION:

What Did You Tell AI?! Preventing Sensitive Data from Becoming Public Prompt Fuel

AI tools like ChatGPT have become embedded in daily workflows in many businesses. While they can offer immense productivity gains, they also introduce serious cybersecurity risks: employees are pasting sensitive legal documents, IP, and strategic plans into AI models… often without company oversight! As generative AI systems may learn from inputs, companies face two urgent challenges: preventing confidential data from being exposed or retained, and ensuring their competitive intelligence isn’t resurfaced in someone else’s prompt. This panel dives into how cybersecurity leaders can get ahead of “Shadow AI” use before it becomes a data breach vector.

  • How does unmanaged AI use put sensitive data at risk?
  • How do private inputs influence public AI outputs?
  • Containing the risk: Deploying private, secure enterprise AI environments
  • Establishing Enforceable AI Usage Policies
Dr. Valerie Lyons
Industry Board Member, CeADAR
Iain Heap
Chief Information Officer, Kainos
Ngan Pham
AI & Data, Driving Responsible Innovation, Women in AI
3:45pm

CLOSING REMARKS

3:50pm

CONFERENCE ENDS

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