MoD’s Major Andrew McGrane joins keynotes to discuss significance of the ‘Human Deal’ in tackling the cyber skills shortage 

MoD’s Major Andrew McGrane joins keynotes to discuss significance of the ‘Human Deal’ in tackling the cyber skills shortage 

  • Infosecurity Europe unveils new keynotes which will address how to outsmart cyber-criminals and future proof businesses  
  • Board level buy-in and digital lifecycles key to building cybersecurity resilience 

London, UK; 15 June 2023 – Infosecurity Europe, the most influential information security event running from 20-22 June 2023 at ExCeL London has today announced it has expanded its industry-leading keynote conference lineup. Major Andrew McGrane, Interim CISO, Global Operations, Ministry of Defence (MoD) will join a panel of senior cybersecurity and business executives to discuss ‘The Achilles’ Heel of the Cybersecurity Industry — Cyber Talent Management and Focusing on the Human Deal’. 

The panel, which takes place on Thursday 22nd June from 11:05-11:35, will see Major Andrew McGrane alongside Dan Harris, Chief Executive Officer, Neurodiversity in Business, Amanda Finch (MCIIS), Chief Executive Officer, Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISec), Edward Parsons, Region Director (UK and Europe), (ISC)² and Jules Gascoigne Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Transport for London (TfL).  

The group will address why attracting and retaining cyber talent remains a significant obstacle in maintaining cyber resilience and efforts that are being made to overcome this issue. They will also explore why organisations should align their environmental credentials with business values to retain talent, the issue surrounding hiring expensive external talent vs investing in training, and the need to redouble focus on people and optimise human potential. 

Major Andrew McGrane commented: “Infosecurity Europe provides an opportunity to meet professional peers and understand how they are tackling their cybersecurity challenges.  The skills shortage is a burdening issue and this year, I get to share some of my experiences. I look forward to contributing to this Talent Management focused panel discussion, where we look to review public and private sector challenges, identify some mutual interests and impart some practical learnings that others can take away with them.” 

Nicole Mills, Exhibition Director at Infosecurity Group, says: “The conference continues to attract not only those highly renowned industry professionals, but those with real life experience handling these difficult cybersecurity challenges and are willing to contribute and convey their knowledge. It’s about education and information sharing, joining forces to enable us to become more resilient, to manage, respond and recover from the growing cybersecurity threats we face.” 

Thursday 22nd will also see newly confirmed, Carmen Ene, Chief Executive Officer, BNP Paribas 3 Step IT take to the stage at 11:45 to talk about ‘Cybersecurity as a Technology Lifecycle Issue: Why True Resilience Demands a New Operating Model Today’. The keynote will consider the need to be across every phase of the lifecycle of digital assets – from cradle to grave, in order to build resilience and future-proof security strategies.  

Continuing the theme of resilience, the 10:55-11:35 panel on Tuesday 20th will see Cedric Mallia, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Play’n GO, Jen Ellis, Co-Chair, Ransomware Task Force, Dr Fene Osakwe, Group Head of Technology and Digital Assurance (Europe and Africa), Wellcome Trust and Board Member and  Forbes Technology Council and Nick Prescot, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Norgine B.V, discuss how ‘A Catastrophic Cyber Storm is Brewing – Catalysing Global Action to Brace for Cyber Warfare’. The talk will open the conversation on how technology is firmly integrated into our daily lives and is essential for the resilience of cities, economies, governments, businesses, and individuals. The speakers will exchange thoughts on how to enhance collaboration and information sharing among stakeholders and quantify cyber risk at board level to prioritise cybersecurity in business decisions. 

“I aim to bring to the forefront the challenges that organisations face when implementing cyber defence and when responding to cyber threats and security incidents. These challenges are shaped by technical, commercial, and regulatory considerations and organisations are often challenged on how to navigate such complex waters. However, organisations can collaborate in order to share threat intelligence to improve preparedness, improve security incident response, and take advantage of the broad scope of information available that would help organisations of every size”, commented Cedric Mallia. 

On Tuesday 20th, 11:55-12:25, female leads, Deborah Haworth, Director of Information Security, Penguin Random House UK and Valerie Abend, Senior Managing Director and Global Cyber Strategy Lead, Accenture will join a panel together with Paul Watts, Distinguished Analyst, Information Security Forum, Simon Newman, Chief Executive Officer, The Cyber Resilience Centre for London and Paul Midian, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), easyJet. The panel will share their tactics for ‘Outsmarting Cyber Criminals’, address why cybersecurity should be on every board’s priority list and highlight the importance of assigning clear ownership of cyber-risk. 

Other topics being discussed on the Keynote Stage at Infosecurity Europe 2023 can be found in the conference programme on the Infosecurity Europe website.   

Register here to join us at Infosecurity Europe from 20-22 June, 2023. 

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