"We cannot become Luddites" - Martha Lane Fox

Last week was a busy week in the land of cyber security which saw a successful Infosecurity Europe 2018 come and go. Over 400 exhibitors showcased the latest security products and services at the event. And of course, let's not forget the thousands of people, beer and stress balls. So many stress balls...what's that saying about the industry?  There were also keynotes from Baroness Martha Lane Fox, former GCHQ Chief, Robert Hannigan and Dr Sue Black.   Lastminute.com Co-founder, Martha Lane Fox highlighted how dramatically the internet has changed over the past twenty years. Security and data privacy were definitely not the dominant considerations at lastminute.com's inception. What was viewed as a utopic land of opportunity has become a balkanised cyber world. And yet, we cannot become Luddites, she states, stressing the need to go forward, not backwards. "Liberal values should be at the heart of the new tech we build," - an inherent part of her 'technology optimism'.  On a personal note, it was my first Infosec which served as a fantastic opportunity to connect with so many of you in the community. Mostly I was darting around the building recording podcast interviews which will be on our site very soon, so watch this space! Interviewees include ethical hacker Gavin Millard of Tenable, Security Evangelist at Ivanti – Amber Boehm, CEO of Corero – Ashley Stephenson, Co-founder of Cy-oT - Daniel Moscovici, MD of Cylance - Dr Anton Grashion, Cyber Security Strategist for Juniper Networks - Nick Bilogorskiy,  Rapid7's Research Director Todd Beardsley, Cybereason's PR Director - Bill Keeler and Recorded Future's CTO and Co-Founder - Staffan Truvé (pictured with me below) and Global CISO at Thales eSecurity – Bridget Kenyon.  Also a special mention to the Ivanti Women In Tech movement - a new community, both online and face-to-face, for women working in the all areas of the technology sector. It's an excellent initiative encouraging support and collaboration among women in an industry that fares poorly when it comes to diversity. Podcasting in action! And of course there were also the SC Magazine awards held at the rather splendid Marriott Hotel. A list of the winners can be found here. Some interviews with winners will be on our site soon too. SC Magazine Awards at The Marriott Hotel