Synopsis Of The Day - Panel Discussion

excellent all right um I'm Sam Humphreys so I've met most of you at some point I think they're probably giving you some crappy swag some great swag um but let let's go down the line and folks introduce themselves and we're going to talk to some of our amazing sponsors and why they're here and why they love us but um would you like to introduce yourself and uh tell us a fun fact made up or otherwise uh hello Ryan Brady uh I'm cyber engineering the ba systems digital intelligence um equal range of work from vulnerability and reverse engineering all the way through to full stack engineering Behavioral Science a whole host of things so VA systems try to call that

together and I'm eating all nuts uh funny facts I probably had a few drinks in that photo actually and I didn't realize that it's the one that's going to be used surprise [Music] um yeah I decided to take a leaf out because

I'm a gay an artistic geek and I actually it's the last one to stay with us you can hyphenate I feel like okay got it Nick up to you hi there um I'm Nick Prescott next tutor reported my speech today I was to get the audience excited I won Britain's Got Talent in 2017 that didn't happen uh I don't know why people think that uh but I I basically I'm a virtual too so for about uh so basically I'll just go from one building to another try and forget the last lot and remember the next lot and try and keep a straight face maybe get the names right maybe not everyone's called Dave right cool cool

all right so these events um I I love a b-sides I may know many of you from being different b-sides around the country World um these events aren't possible without sponsors really it's difficult to put them on without sponsors not impossible but if you want a great building and you want food and you want cool swag and all the rest of it um sponsors are dead important and it's interesting I get asked a lot like why do we spend this money with the community why do we get leads I like giving back um I'd be loved I'd love to hear from all of you and we'll come back this way I feel that's all right

um like what sounds a bit weird why are you here why why did you choose to sponsor besides Lancashire and what does it mean to you so Nick do you want to go again um uh well I would I was I was invited to come here kind of live down and I think I think it's really interesting to see so many different range of skills and talent uh here I think all the presentations here have kind of looked at things that are and a kind of really technical way and I think for me is I spend my whole time in front of the non-security corporate environment and it's really interesting to see how everyone's looking at these

past questions and I think that it gives you this flavor uh some Andrea why are you here yeah ask yourself that question I think I was just I was just I was just walking past and I think he is a an event really or a community that's really warm that nobody else gets that sense the real sense of that Community I think there's a business we're all about removing barriers and getting people involved and I think besides really aligns worth it for that um I felt that massive support and honestly throughout the day Wilson Brian um I think ba systems have always had strong Heritage in the Northwest um I think as technology becomes ever prevalent and a

key part of things that are being delivered uh by government or by business um please be part of that I think just having I'm placing gloucestershire attending some of the b-sides events down in in those areas it's amazing how um first burn it really exciting to be part of um and I think I really want to sort of jump on that enthusiasm and make sure grow and develops Community Support that [Music] I love it now and you kind of my next question is a little bit specific to the Northwest but before I go to anal how many of you lot there's the hands up thing these or you know a leg or whatever you like

um how many of you are sort of localish sort of within an hour's drive or something it's a lot scared that's good I mean we so we do have some cereal b sizes in the house who's been to more than three base sites this year holy [ __ ] on the last six months like yeah yeah um that was good and it's nice I mean I always see there's a core crew of people that just seem to show up every time including me but I think it's good having that local connection we haven't had a b size in the Northwest since 2019. so to see this happen for like a first one really for lankerships

specifically is incredible so like pick up all of you for coming um but the Northwest who just kind of talks about why that's important uh anything you want to add on that before I go go round again I think just in terms of these sites themselves

industry and business so I think it is we'll get that joined up love it Andrea why do you love the northwest I'm glad you repeat the question

I'll hold the door you run okay we've talked a bit we heard some of the earlier attacks Tech about it being an important part of the world it's great to be out of London I think everything you see that goes on can end up kind of traveling south but I think for me it's weird to get a full business okay now there's a Powerhouse Powerhouse and now I put words in your mouth Nick um what does Northwest mean to you like why why is this important I have to be honest it's the first B size of I've been to anywhere um and I I would say what's really impressed me is that sense of community

and the collaboration um I think it's really interesting to kind of uh you know when you look at things in the Northwest it's not an area I I often come from but I really do think that there's certainly a sense of much greater technical collaboration you know the kind of friendliness that you probably don't get um down down south um but as the one thing that really struck me is is the need kind of get them done and progressed and I think uh awesome so on that note who's who's their first b-sides it's a law who's coming back that's awesome I think given the pandemic as well especially we also talking to yesterday Dan oh yeah over

there with your big hair um I'm like surely not but with the pandemic a lot of us have kind of got to know each other through online activities so I'm I'm pleased I'm actually not that surprised so many of you put your hands up to say it was your first go um and and like like welcome and we'll be many more many more so we can take some questions from the audience for our sponsors I just want to do a quick so one thing we haven't really talked about I know many of you have been to visit the sponsors but not maybe you're not around everybody do you want to give me like a two minute like

what do you do um I'm gonna go Andrew first

you kind of been a dancer a taxi driver a chef a cyber professional they're Tech professional and reskilled them into this side of the world and some amazing people I really love capstock it was awesome little round of course catalog it's super cool super cool uh Nick what's an attitude community-based yourself so what what we do is we uh we kind of do what we call so basically we go in and a company won't have a seat though or they won't have a head of security or they'll have an ironic manager or something they've been bumbling along with all but they'll just support usually what happens they bought Microsoft Office right and I think everything's sorted and then

they think nothing's sorted and and we we go in and just kind of take them along that along that journey I think everything what Chris was saying is presentation um is that we we just kind of go in and do that you know lift the Bonnet up through the heavy engineering kind of really look at the engine and then kind of take them on that road uh to maturity and I think the biggest thing the biggest challenge we have is not it's not telling everyone about the risks the vulnerabilities that correct and the fact that they're about to get happy because Library insurance and all that the biggest challenge we have is not just changing the culture of the IC ICT

but getting all the end users to be much more aware about what we do and I think that is uh what what Chris was saying earlier in his presentation about speaking their language director

who turns off he goes I'm a cyber expert because he's basically you've been to the last board where he's another Annie's climb along this and all that so I think I think people are aware that um you know there is no modern company that says it doesn't have a system or but they're still stuck a lot of them are still

all sorts of wild characters at all levels and you know I think I really want to call Bae babe but I know that's really not worth calls right tell me about Bay come on Ryan it's quite a big one

about 90 000 people globally um but and a lot of that is delivering platforms to the military to governments um I suppose in the area it's more relevant to these conversations is our digital intelligence business which is about provision of services and products that are range problems activity or um or data science thank you so logical aspect for that as well it's a pretty Broad company and you can bring in a whole host of different skill sets and I think that's what you can speak up on that collaboration [Music] it's not just about everything the technical there are different languages

So ba systems is trying to spearhead some of that thinking from an industry perspective

yeah what he wants to join as well yeah ba is not so how many people are there ish

um big presence in the UK but also internationally um

caps looks about the same size right yeah yeah unless how many how many other words how many are there of you aptitude um wait can you call [Laughter]

um and they're about three thousand people wow how many are at caps are now because it's grown a lot isn't it yeah no it's amazing comparable size I'd say yes yeah not thousand twenty five yeah no it's amazing all right cool cool um I'd like to take some questions from the audience how we've time we're good because the green lights were good any questions get us more crowns you must want to know something here we go I'll come over to you hang on why would I want to get into cyber um why would you want to get why would you want to get in cyber I don't know why would you right who wants to take that

yeah I think it's the most amazing place to be where I think there's absolutely place for everybody I think because it's so incredibly diverse um it actually should represent Society shouldn't it so I think there is a place for everybody animal for everybody whether you are into I don't know investigation stuff whether you're into incredible technical things whether you're in Psychology whatever it is you're in there's so many opportunities Nick can you answer that 'd be a good answer so maybe not yeah I think I think to be honest it's a bit of everything you know you you're not just a project manager or you're not just doing the account to find out the market

you know in my world you do a bit of everything you'll have a meeting where you'll try and do some user awareness education and you need some marketing school you know to kind of get the message out uh you'll need to have project management skills you meet everyone in a different business and I think to me it's almost uh really understanding how businesses work at a really broad level you know I think working inside and you can't just say well I'm just going to be an expert and find out for HR or whatever you need to know a bit of all of it uh and I think that's the variety and also uh no two days wherever the

same you know you you do your normal job and then something happens usually about 4 35 on a Friday um and you're just like oh my God what's happened uh and I think it's that kind of mixture of the BAU trying to make things going better but the excitement of you know I know I know then you shouldn't say instance are excited but they are because everyone paid attention uh and and that kind of varies it as well and that's what I really like is the fact is that you know there is that that moment where you know everyone pulls together really works as a team uh and then and then he works to make things better so

um yeah that's a bit weird I love incidents I really do I miss it a bit of marketing incidents well I mean you could I suppose I could try oh I miss it sometimes I like my weekends though they're good um Brian do you want to add to that

would be um it straddles every aspect of society defense of patients of cyber skills in in those areas you're also continuously that way for a long long time a good example of that again is the sort of increasing interest in space energy available the massive cyber aspects of that so it's every every industry we still have a fun element to it and if you read myself in those problems it's a bit by step the question is do you want to come and work in cyber now [Laughter] got a question over here right so um you've got a sort of a variety of different geographical locations um and a lot has been made about the talent in the Northwest so from your

perspective what is the north west of this community need to do to realize that potential and make Northwest a cyber Powerhouse I was Taiwan I think one of those prices it starts to feel rude I think it is understanding the resources already exists here and actually how you hack into that resource yeah I think quite often we end up doing the same kinds of things and expecting a different outcomes

people and I did a little bit of research around the kinds of families that are in the Northwest and there's a number of families in the Northwest non-working families so children born into households where the reason I've been in that household that works and I think how do you reach people like that actually who could have an amazing career in this year but I think it's recognizing that research I think I think the trouble with the Cyber is that people perceive you've got the some kind of cool pen Tester the spent their teenage years hacking into NASA blowing stuff up you know but that's perception um yeah and and people and I think also is

that a lot of people think that people who work at cyborg just weirdos and say no or uh they just spend their whole time kind of zooming gloom and I think especially around like uh London and the southeast is you know there's a lot of uh kind of professions you know there are lawyers accountants but you know they kind of cyber has emerged as a kind of serious professional I think certainly when I started 15 years ago a career gone South because you're in I.T now they see cyber as as a real critical question and I think there was the reality is that there is a shortage of type of people the people the trouble is we've

all set the party while we all want the expert and actually what was really the people who can have critical analysis people who don't you know so many people like Matt is is like tell them to do 10 things and they'll just do it in fact that's that's not what we want inside but we want we ask you to do 10 things they want you to critique cases and ask you why you're doing it uh and and to me you know I've I've hired people from completely non-sized backgrounds and actually they come from the humanities perspective life it's political history which I want to do I do University because it's all about persuading people telling a story coming up with a good

argument coming up with the empirical evidence and in a way cyber to me is not a science it's not an impact science it's always strategic changes it's shifting down and I think the real thing is is actual communication you know at the end of the day something's going wrong with the four balls and the Blinky lights you need to tell someone who's non-technical this is what happens is

[Music] a great question and I think also you know comes more b-sides bring friends to your friends fit your own besides just keep it going all of these sides that's what we like seasides now Coco any more questions surely so if you'd like to know something about something oh I love it someone at the back brilliant all right give me a minute I'm really made for stairs come on no it's fine hi um Andrea I am a huge fan of your work and a lot of my clients are currently working with Andrea but how do we convince HR teams to actually hire property you've all talked about and lots of people today have talked about

entry level Talent why do HR teams still insist on three years experience for an entry level job oh yeah feel free to start answering before I come back no I think that is a really great question to be honest with you so I think it's a bit of a working progress some other proof of the pudding definitely needed you get um to speak to somebody who actually is saying give it a shot let's have a look at these four or five or six people who may become from non-traditional backgrounds like Sit Them alongside other people um and you assume we've got people who work with businesses we work with who are coming around for that

non-traditional route into a role and I think it is just as dialogue communication working with people and getting them to just see see the difference where they are see some little and non-traditional route so it's not a quick fix but I think we've just got to keep chatting with us they've only just got to fix this time machines so you can have 10 years experience but also I've just started your career amazing um Ryan did you have anything to add to that yeah so I think I think um industry again sort of leaning in on on those areas where your first or mind waiver as ways of bringing in dni into these sort of areas

which is really absolutely essential and often those very different um different backgrounds uh I saw with someone earlier today about um scheme that we're looking at currently which is looking at people that have been on for all uh Elite teams that come out the back of that and never quite made it to the full Squad but then they're kind of all there to be there losing their purpose can we get them trained up in cyber and understanding cyber Technologies if there's only aptitude a place to go so it's um it's those sort of conversations and I'll shake some of those sellers programs is really key I think

interesting because they'll put a job spec off and I'll put ciss-pifem CCNA CCS whatever uh PC idsf or something like the GPU that's kind of acting in your life and then you'll get a whole bunch of CVS and then on the one hand you'll get somebody who's got more qualifications than a professor of brain surgery oh by the way he does rocket science it is Hobby uh and then you ask them a question and they don't know if they're comfortable because they haven't got that knowledge or experience um you know I I come from a non-technical

you know cyber is a broad broad church I hate you that question but it is a [ __ ] you'll have people from my it backgrounds maybe you could accept you may have people who've got good wrist background and I think the problem is that HR inherently thinks that

who sit next to the tpas to kind of sit next to the firewall people and actually that kind of middle office compliance or whatever so I think we've got to get away from just saying oh because you've got your sin because you're on USA you've got to be good we've got to pause the search up because there's a short people and actually if you've got the right training skills accelerators and all that kind of thing some people will excel you know they'll learn new skills and I think HR especially things like cyber because it's a critical business operation it's almost like we don't want to take the risk that somebody doesn't have a skill so well you need a shortage of skills so

build the skills up yeah I think this again comes down to we need to help the folks right we need to help them understand like how their gatekeeping is causing us a problem because if we don't tell them like they don't know they're just like these things sound good people should have these it's an interesting it wouldn't really I spent most of the day in Italian

it's interesting when you speak to some um you kind of get involved in some recruitment processes and they'll say we want them to have these places and what about leadership management you're like that's the easy bit I think actually flipping it a little bit around on its head and saying indicates the success in the sector are critical thinking so problem solving spirit ability and your passion and your commitment and your driving determination when we start to look at those things and start kind of measuring it by some there's other strange matters and point people who really have the skills

for this idea that you do rather than a tradition 100 anymore questions please peace out I'm gonna go this way first because even further brilliant Just Talk Amongst yourselves I'll just have a hard time come in yeah

um all of you all three of you well um who are on the panel have invested in in these sites because you think there's some type of return on investment so for all of us who come from a different company what is it about these sides what is it that you want to take away or gain from these sides that we can say to our companies look there is a reason we're here you should also invest in these sites and in us What can you advise us okay I'm not going to come back down again right and I'm going to ask you to go first please from up here so so I think the value of these sides

is is the community it creates um and the sort of uh flagging of demand from various different sort of areas and really creating that uh environment that our cyber community to flourish and and having worked in gloucestershire for a long time I can see that sort of evolved over a long period of time in areas like Cheltenham um and I think the key thing there is that you're you're ahead of the game very much in that sort of discussion and I think actually this is what's happened today it feels like um there's that absolute enthusiasm already there so I feel like a lot of the things that are happening you're doing all the right things anyway

um I'm not sure there's more that can be done other than more sorts of events like this more opportunities to collaborate I think being on the sort of leaning in in terms of hardships between acting uh um industry and government for example is some of those conversations will really make the regions on that I think There's an opportunity to do that over the coming years but we really sort of accelerate the answer I'm gonna go next Andrea what's your Roi um yeah you can't have a Rosie with that Roi um [Applause]

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[Music] yeah I think um I think you know it's the first time you know certainly in the last three months everyone kind of comes together after the pandemic and I do especially if you didn't post that person really working at home with the pandemic it's quite a lonely job because everything's just ended soon called free everyone kind of come together with the community I think is really good but I think it's also it's really great that uh people from loads of different security experience actually come together in the same room because usually the day job the team of you know five to ten people if you're like in a large company in a small company and and you know it's different

mindset for so many other jobs and I think it's always really great to kind of share notes and just just understand experiences and how to have that you know have that challenge a few points because I think we're all trying to get to the same place um but you know the best way to do that is to quite a huge rather face to face I mean I'm sure people remember the pandemic having virtual beers

they're all brilliant but as a council I'll scumbag from Liverpool right it's great that the North West gets to meet other people in the north west doing in the I.T industry are in the security industry you think it's not just the bloody South all the time right and that is wonderful for this it's a wonderful thing [Applause] it's also nice that you get to meet people with different vowels as well I feel don't hurt me all right can we get a question up here yeah there we go uh you've talked a lot about why you're hearing throughout the day people have talked about the challenges of the industry but I'm intrigued what have you excited about the next five years in the

cyber security industry with how you guys each individually interact with us and how you or you won't individually work all right well who wants to take that one I think yes I think um I guess for me has never seen it broadened out and actually ancestors

yeah I agree I I think sort of reading things like the side strategy out in the whole society approach really actually delivers quite a few new opportunities and new ways to collaborate with new opportunities to collaborate that probably no one thought of before so I think that's really exciting um you know just seeing some of the engagements between areas like the psychological aspects of a of a problem as well as the the technical aspects and other collaboration is really exciting it just it sounds there's so much so many new ways of solving challenging problems have a degree next you want to go and I actually I'm going to answer this one as well um I think I think what's been really

interesting is you have a pandemic practice but it's a normal flow of how things are progressed that kind of slow down I think over the last five years I think if you trip that away people talk about digitization they talk about AI they talk about the online kind of Digital Society I mean one of the things I've been quite followed Away by is this whole kind of chapters you do stuff that's cropped up I think a lot of people in marketing are going to have to use new ways of doing their job and we'll just uh was it chat gct4 did 90 passed on the law exam you know stuff like that and the speed in which

the society the hole is moving in an individual fashion you know um you know the mobile phone uh is now just so ubiquitous you know if you bank closes down in High Street you see you know all the high streets you know don't go to a town by your bits and pieces to just click on Amazon uh and things like that and cyber is at the Forefront of that it's making that for pure and safe um so I think the next five years is is that whole way in which you know cyber succeeded something in the office I think now it percolates uh something you do on an everyday basis with everything that you do you know

they've got small heads for example I mean I'm sure lots of people here have got like um you know the additional phenomenal teams and you know home security cameras you know they've all got to be secured and everything you know unless we all work to lock that down and make that more space you know I can only see it as a groceries industry I think you'd be working marketing or law or accounting I think that is going to be a huge huge change for people in cyber in front of you people in cyber marketing are fine though right so for me I mean it's cyber and Innovation the fact that I think actually we're getting closer finally

like 10 years ago Innovation was over here doing its thing and we were like can you can you do some security no okay um and then then you know it'll get fixed on the Fly wouldn't it like or wooden one of the two and I think that you can see it coming closer together which is brilliant and I I don't know about this whole AI Malarkey thing despite working in marketing I'm not that scared of it in fact I'm actually really excited by it because I think it's just it's going to help us more as humans as we go right I well so many times we throw ourselves at manual problems at computers can solve all right let's do that and then

we can be even more awesome than we already are so I think that's and then having that with cyber coming together with Innovation empowering it that's what excites me site cool all right let's do more of that um that someone over here had a question um hi who are you and where'd you come from where to answer so I was gonna add another one into that one probably very briefly uh so we talk about analog humans and we talk about digital world so you start looking at the convergence of that uh and take a look at what the bio and nanobiotech areas are doing yeah you want to talk about hacking humans now you can start

hacking humans so do a little bit of research have some fun Google it and enjoy please come and scan my hand before the end of the evening yeah it's not a euphemism well please actually come and scan my hands cool cool all right who put the hands up thank you for not being currently in our community there's a tendency that there is loads of content regarding what to learn for the people who wants to break into the cyber security or other skill but what do you suggest to unlearn [Music] we want to take that one

time

of it

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yeah I I think it's simple aligned to that really it's about having a bit of a multi-disciplinary approach so actually recognizing that historically you might have excuse that's quite siloed and maybe solve a problem together but actually if you bring in other people scientists that bring in different different viewpoints and different um disciplines then that will help trying to talk about whole society approaching Nick princess just the technical role it's a compliance role of governance role at the West role in everything well don't think it remember the IT Crowd like the guy that was on the bottom floor the guy who's the Noel Richard he kind of sat in the back with flash of light it's not it you know

it's not that ground full technical role it you know you should be yeah foreign

marketing people right now I understand them are great answers and we're getting close to time I I don't know if I can smell the bar there's still a little bit more to go um where are we outside a couple minutes six minutes we're going to school okay I'm coming a bit longer then any more questions let's do some more questions questions from down here please okay that's close enough

hey so you've um you've spoken about my soft skills and things like problem solving and troubleshooting and that sort of thing um an interview environment that's pretty easy to demonstrate right because it can stick up to two tests and minerals and that sort of thing how would you demonstrate it on a CV without it you're saying like the usual twaddle yeah you get about working in teams and that sort of thing [Music] is I've got a thought so [Music]

[ __ ] up it is

I'm doing my CV tonight that's happening I love it any other any other ads to that it's difficult one isn't it yeah it's good because I would say it is really with with the stuff you put on the TV with the audience is every Department that you deal with when you say you have those impact skills you're going to be dealing with people who have different mindsets to yourself when you go to an HR person and you say I want to make sure that all the users are doing the usual