Over eight thousand people attended Ireland’s largest tech conference, Dublin Tech Summit, which occurred earlier this month. The two-day affair focused on connecting the world’s most innovative companies between Ireland, the rest of Europe, the US and more, saw cyber awareness and Artificial Intelligence dominate discussions among a diverse range of speakers and audiences.
For those in the dark, cyber security is the process of defending computers, servers, mobile devices, electronic systems, networks, and data from breaches or malicious attacks online. With e-commerce continuing to boom and consumers spending the majority of their time on the World Wide Web, we all need to become more aware of cybercrime. According to figures from Statistica, in 2022, the average cost of a single data breach globally hit over four million euros. As if that’s not alarming enough, statistics from Cybercrime Magazine estimate businesses will lose approximately 9.7 trillion euros alone in 2025 due to cyber breaches.
A notable line-up of big cybersecurity firms took centre stage and exhibited at the Irish tech summit. ThreatLocker, VMware, Evervault, WithSecure and more share the same sentiment: cyber awareness is more important than ever. One of many experts providing invaluable insights on data and protection was Onur Korucu, Vice President of Global Consulting Services EMEA, WomenTech Global Ambassador and the International Association of Privacy Professionals Ireland Chapter Chair.
Dublin Tech Summit
A key question asked of all cyber experts in attendance surrounded the future of cybersecurity and what it entails. Speaking about the issue, Onur said algorithms have been key in helping firms battle cyberattacks. “The future of cyber is becoming a sharper focus as organisations look beyond the tech-centric and threat focus toward positive outcomes resulting from integrating cyber across the business. Emerging information security threats and challenges prevent organisations from achieving a fully secure system: as technologies continue to shape our daily lives, the need for cyber security has become more pressing than ever before.
(Cloud computing, AI, IoT, Blockchain) AI and ML algorithms are able to analyse large amounts of data and detect patterns and anomalies that may indicate a potential threat.” She added, “To provide additional protection, all sensitive data is encrypted – both “at rest” and in transit. Without implementing cloud security architecture and measures, your organisation remains exposed to cyber threats.”
Another hot topic surrounded Europe’s readiness to manage innovations, particularly amongst corporates doing business globally. Speaking on the Summit’s Evolution stage, Onur said risk measurement remains a grey area. “I think the most critical security conclusion to be made about this year should be the evolution of technology companies and the world’s economic structure. Chip shortage problems, widespread use of Chat GPT and online chatbots, publication of the draft version of AI law, billion-dollar data security violation fines… technology is running fast and it becomes challenging to control. Now, classical IT audit methods are insufficient for risk assessments. The security approach of the future will be determined by technological innovation and the legal or other ways to control this innovation.”
AI and Cybersecurity
Expert Chad Skipper, Global Security Technologist at VMware, provided insights on cybersecurity risks and trends for this year and 2024. Speaking about cybersecurity and cybercriminals, he said, “the primary goal stays the same, to gain the keys to the kingdom in four steps, the first being to steal credentials, the second to move unilaterally and acquire that data and the third to monetise it.” Biggest threats were also highlighted, as Chad added “remote desk working protocol will fuel island hopping. This is a technique which aims to hijack a company’s infrastructure and attack its customers, it’s a threat we should keep in mind for all organisations.”
And what about security culture and prevailing risks? Onur added, “new cyber risks appear with emerging technologies, and hackers use more sophisticated cyber attacks. Cyber security is not and cannot be stable. We need to be creative; we need to be dynamic and proactive to be able to succeed in a fast-moving world. Security is orchestrated, so putting the right people into the correct positions and creating an end-to-end security culture will help us achieve a more robust cybersecurity posture.” With over two hundred speakers, one hundred startups, numerous robots and copious amounts of coffee being consumed in Dublin over the course of the event, the message that cyber-attacks remain more prevalent than ever before invoked curiosity (and fear) amongst even the most tech-savvy and tech-centric.
