What to expect from Infosecurity Europe

The annual Infosecurity Europe show is once more upon us and as ever there are plenty of reasons why attendance is a must for any IT security professional.

With the recent WannaCry outbreak affecting systems within the NHS as well as many other organisations around the word, there has never been a more important time to come up to speed with the latest developments in cyber crime and the industry's answer to this thorny problem.

The show runs from 6-8 June and this year will be held at Olympia, London.

Find out more about GDPR

Next year, GDPR will become law and is set to revolutionise how businesses approach cyber security. It's designed to ensure that businesses that hold information on EU citizens, must put the right security protections in place to protect that data or face a significant fine and damage to their reputation.

A GDPR clinic will be in operation at the show on 6 June, thanks to Gemalto. Jan Smets, a qualified Data Protection Officer, will talk businesses through the exact steps to data compliance and security.

Separately, Thales e-Security will also be offering businesses a GDPR Health check to check how ready they are for the forthcoming legislation. This aims to advise where a business is on its on GDPR path and suggest some clear actions to consider as next steps.

Live hacking demos

EfficientIP, which works with Netflix, Boeing and Orange, will be doing alive hacking demoas part of its security workshop on 7 June called "Protecting Your Business & Data from New DNS-Based Exploits". Attendees will learn how exfiltration and other DNS-based attacks work, as well as best practices to mitigate them to protect their business and data.

In another demo, Steve Malone and Bob Adams from Mimecast will discuss the anatomy of attacks, with a live demonstration on 8June. The talk will provide guidance on building a cyber resilience strategy to help fight advanced threats in email, like phishing, ransomware and impersonation fraud.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are becoming more mainstream in information security. In 2016, the DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge was the first all-machine hacking competition that involved the use of custom-built Cyber Reasoning Systems (CRS).

At the show, there will be a session that will uncover the findings from the competition, how a CRS is applicable to the information security industry today and how the use of autonomous reasoning systems will help organisations help fill part of the security skills shortage moving forward. The session will include guidance on how to get started building your own CRS for hobby or real-world enterprise usage. The talk takes place on 7 June at 4 pm and is being given byNeil Thacker, deputy CISO at Forcepoint.

Dave Palmer, director of technology at Darktrace, will be giving a strategic talk on how artificial intelligence will shape the future of cyber security. Attendees can find out how to leverage unsupervised machine learning for intelligent and automated detection.

The keynote speakers

Every year, Infosecurity Europe has a range of top keynote speakers and this year is no exception. Kicking it all off will be a talk by author and former MI5 boss Dame Stella Rimington on the evolution of security in the UK, Europe and globally.

Security legend Bruce Schneier will speak on 7 June at 11 am on how AI will radically transform modern business and cyber security. But with these opportunities come risks: risk of insecure configuration, poor AI authentication leading to new attack vectors or, in the worst-case scenario, AI being directly compromised to turn against people and the services we rely on. The session will take an in-depth look at AI technology, how to secure it and whether it offers a new opportunity for cybersecurity or a new attack vector for cyber-adversaries.

Vendor parties and networking

The show is also a great opportunity for attendees to mingle with like-minded professionals and network. The show has a mobile app that enables users to network with other event attendees using the app's matchmaking feature.

Infosec is also putting on a "Meet and Seat" area where attendees can have access to an exclusive seating area with guaranteed space where you can host meetings or simply take time out to organise yourself.Bookable in one-hour slots, visitors get a separate table with chairs, on-site refreshments and dedicated Wi-Fi.At the centre of the venue, a networking bar is available for visitors and exhibitors to gather.

There are hosts of after show parties for people to visit, and one such event sees Mimecast and PhishMe hosting drinkson Wednesday at the Blag Club.

Rene Millman

Rene Millman is a freelance writer and broadcaster who covers cybersecurity, AI, IoT, and the cloud. He also works as a contributing analyst at GigaOm and has previously worked as an analyst for Gartner covering the infrastructure market. He has made numerous television appearances to give his views and expertise on technology trends and companies that affect and shape our lives. You can follow Rene Millman on Twitter.