EU Cyber Summit Wrap Up

EU Cyber Summit

On October 24, I got to attend to EU Cyber Summit as I volunteered there. Some of the notable speakers included Edward Snowden, Paul C Dwyer, and Michelle Dewberry. While meeting current technical professionals, I got to attend a couple of panel sessions. Two sessions that stuck out to me were one about cyber resilience and the other about cyber-enabled crime.

Cyber Resilience

I found the session about resilience interesting because it was about having back up plans in place for when you come under attack. A good point that was touched on was about how the shame of being hacked needs to end. It needs to end because companies need to come forward if they were attacked, whether it was a major breach or a minor incident because what was used against them can and most likely will be used against other companies. Other good points that were mentioned where about how you need a simple plan that anyone can follow. You do not know who will be working when something goes wrong. If you require certain people to be in order for your plan to be effective, then you do not have an effective plan. A good plan for cyber resilience needs to be easy to understand, have clear instructions and not a lot of steps.

Cyber-enabled Crime

Cyber-enabled crime is a weird topic because it is a grey area. This is not crime that can be done exclusively on technology, like hacking, this is crime that is made easier by the use of technology. Crimes such as identity theft and fraud have expanded with the use of cyber components. An identity thief does not need a computer in order to steal your identity, but it makes their job a lot easier and same with fraud. Using the internet also opens new opportunities. People can steal identities or credit cards and sell them. There is no need for them to be put in the danger of getting caught when they try to use them. They can make their money by selling them online and other people buy them, use and sometimes get caught with them

The end of the cyber summit was a talk by Edward Snowden. While you may not agree with the actions that he took, the conversation that he started is an important one. One key point that he mentioned was that while US citizens are protected by the fourth amendment, corporations have no obligation to follow it. With the rollout of GDPR(General Data Privacy Regulation), there are now rules that companies have to follow with people's personal data. I found the summit a good use of time and was glad what I got out of it for my volunteering.