MAYOR OF Middlesbrough Andy Preston formally opened an event focusing on the challenges and opportunities of the cyber security sector.
The half-day event was part of the month-long #CyberFest programme and held at Teesside University’s The Curve building.
In his opening address to more than 80 delegates, Mr Preston said his vision for the town included building facilities and offices fit for the 21st century, with a focus on technology.
#CyberFest is organised by regional IT champions Dynamo North East and has various events throughout September at venues across the region. The Middlesbrough event focused on cyber security in changing business models and explored how business communities and supply chains have come together to address challenges and opportunities.
Among the speakers was Tim Moran from Lujam who talked about monitoring across supply chains and Lynsey Robinson from Digital City, who are working to bring technology and businesses together.
Kate Baucherel from Galiadigital gave an insight into making cyber security accessible through fiction, and was followed by Sapphire, a local security services provider posed the question is cyber a threat or an opportunity?
The morning was rounded off by a panel discussion on cyber in a changing business model and harnessing any cyber opportunities, led by Jamie Hardesty from Technation.
Phil Jackman, Dynamo Cyber Security Lead and one of the organisers of #CyberFest, said: “#CyberFest aims to raise awareness of the North East as a place to address cyber resilience and to educate and inform of the threats and opportunities from cyber.
“We were delighted with the number of delegates who attended our event at The Curve, and with the feedback we’ve had from them. I’d like to thank our hosts Teesside University and Digital City for their hospitality – we’ll certainly be back on Teesside for next year’s #CyberFest.
Other #CyberFest events include:
• September 17 – Evening event at Northumbria University, hosted by Not Equal and North East Initiative on Business Ethics. This event will look at building security into business and dealing with the ethics of cyber security as you grow;
• September 18 – A local civic cyber resilience event for public sector, hosted by North East ICT Managers;
• September 24 – Advancing manufacturing event at Alnwick Castle, hosted by Northumberland Estates, Advance Northumberland and Womble Bond Dickinson; the event will look at managing disruption caused by digital technology and the fallout of cyber security as business models are changing;
• September 26 – Cyber Skills for App and Web Developers hosted by Sunderland University and Institute of Coding in conjunction with Digital Union.
Book tickets for any of the free #CyberFest events here.
Dynamo was established in 2013 and works to grow the north east’s IT economy through promoting the region as a hub for the enterprise IT sector. It is made up of IT organisations and employers, technology hubs, educational establishments, local government and employer support initiatives.
Phil leads on Dynamo North East’s cyber resilience cluster, which is supported by Accenture, and aims to champion the region’s cyber-security and resilience sector; work with universities to develop cyber research and development; to enhance skills in the sector and to work with law enforcement and other agencies to meet regional and UK-wide cyber security objectives.
Keep up-to-date with #CyberFest events on Twitter using the hashtags #CyberFest and #CyberNorth.
