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KPMG Cyber Security Congress 2019

06/11/2019 14:21

KPMG in Cyprus successfully organised the 3rd annual Cyber Security Congress on the 23rd and 24th October, highlighting the shift from the traditional approach in addressing cyber security challenges within today’s highly disruptive environments. Day 1 took place in Nicosia, at The Landmark Nicosia hotel and day 2 in Limassol, at the Crowne Plaza Limassol hotel.

The KPMG Cyber Security Congress is an annual event aiming to address the current and emerging cyber security challenges and provide insights to cyber security trends.This year’s Congress theme was twofold. Τhe main event took place on the first day and was attended by security professionals across multiple industries in Cyprus, while the second day was an invite-only event focused on Maritime Cyber Security. The Congress gathered local and international cyber security professionals, whose targeted presentations and demonstrations covered both technical and management matters.

Day 1 –Main Event, Nicosia

The main event focused on the rapid shifts in technology and the ongoing migration to new technologies, such as Cloud and Artificial Intelligence (AI),while challenging the audience into thinking out of the box when it comes down to surviving the next wave of sophisticated attacks.

In his welcome message Christos Vasiliou, Managing Director and Head of Advisory Services at KPMG in Cyprus, highlighted the strategic importance of Cyber Security and its role as a business enabler for organisations. George Tziortzis, Board Member and Head of Management Consulting at KPMG in Cyprus, opened the main event by setting the scene and the current cyber security challenges, while highlighting that security can no longer exist in isolation.

An awakening talk by Ronald Heil, Cyber Security Partner at KPMG Netherlands, challenged the audience by questioning the readiness and awareness of organisations on how disruptive thinking is needed to survive the next wave of cyber attacks. Guest speakers from the UK, Joseph Samuel, CEO of Core Engineering Consulting Group and Kevin Almansa, Application Security Consultant at Sky Global OTT Platforms, presented a case study from the telecommunications industry focusing on the importance of shifting security to the left and how automation can facilitate the adoption of security best practices.Furthermore,Konstantinos Botsaris, Senior Manager, Digital Innovation at KPMG in Cyprus, presented the key challenges and considerations around the different aspects of trust in AIalgorithms.

The afternoon session started with an interesting approach by Aloni Israel, Director at KPMG in Israel, who elaborated on how gamification can advance an organisation’s cyber security capability by performing team building exercises that encourage cross function knowledge sharing during hands on challenges. Security professionals coming from different industries had the opportunity to participate in a workshop as active members of a “Blue Team”– tasked with protecting the organisation from a cyber-attack. The workshop was delivered through the use of the KPMG Cyber Range platform.

This year the audience was encouraged to participate in an interactive manner, by providing their responses to a set of questions and statements regarding cyber security matters. Through their responses, the participants indicated the increase in the adoption of cloud services by their organisations and highlighted the lack of employee awareness as one of the major threats that organisations currently face in Cyprus. The results of the interactive survey will be published at a later stage.

Day 2 – Maritime Cyber Security, Limassol

The second day of the Congress was dedicated to cyber security in the maritime sector. Professionals from the Cyprus’ maritime industry entered in an open discussion with the Cyber Security professionals of KPMG, attempting to cultivate a business driven cyber security approach rather than the traditional compliance driven approach.

The main focus of the discussion was the digitisation of the maritime sector, the integration of IT and OT on-board vessels and the fact that increasingly sophisticated attacks express an implicit mandate for cyber security. The speakers presented cyber security attacks against vessels, while also highlighting the health and safety risks arising from cyber threats. This was followed by an introduction to the IMO’s cyber risk guidelines and the need for a cyber security culture within the maritime sector. The session concluded with participants providing their concerns and insights regarding cyber security within their organisations.