International Conference on Cyber Conflict, CyCon 2017, takes place in Tallinn this week, joining altogether nearly 600 key experts and decision-makers of the global cyber defence community. The event will be opened today by the President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid. Keynotes will be delivered by Adm. Michelle Howard, the Commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe; control system security consultant Ralph Langner; Katie Moussouris of Luta Security; Professor Michael Schmitt and Chair of the GCSC Marina Kaljurand and others.
„In nine years CyCon has developed into a unique community building event for cyber defence experts and decison-makers. It brings together techies, lawyers, researchers, policy advisors, industry experts, government officials and military top brass, facilitating debate between all the actors in the field,“ highlighted Sven Sakkov, Director of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence that organises the conference. „This kind of inter-disciplinary cooperation is a must in dealing with cyber security challenges we face today.“
CyCon 2017 under the theme of Defending the Core recognises that digitalisation has both transformed and disrupted our way of life, bringing new security risks to technological dependencies together with its innumerable social and economic benefits.
Ralph Langner, who has received worldwide recognition for his comprehensive analysis of the Stuxnet malware, will discuss significant advances and paradigm shifts in passive cyber defence that will allow us to protect critical infrastructure reasonably well against all but the most potent threat actors.
“Are we stuck in cyber conflicts where offense will always have the upper hand, and deterrence appears to be the best defensive strategy? Not so,“ argues Ralph Langner. „Technological developments will initiate a shift in cyber power equilibriums, as they will degrade adversaries’ opportunities to credibly threaten our electric grids, water systems, and kinetic warfighting capability.”
Other speakers include Ambassador Sorin Ducaru, NATO´s Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges; Jeff Moss, the founder and CEO of the DEF CON hacker conference; William H. Saito, Special Advisor to the Government of Japan; Michael Chertoff, Co-Chair of GCSC; Paul Vixie, Internet Hall of Fame, Paul Nicholas from Microsoft and many others.
CyCon 2017 will also include a plenary panel with Cyber Commanders and with the recently established Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace (GCSC). Conference’s key themes are discussed from legal, technology and strategy perspectives, often in an interdisciplinary manner.
Selected Cycon 2017 keynotes will be broadcasted live at newportal of the Estonian national broadacaster ERR http://www.err.ee/598943/kaks-paeva-otseulekandeid-kuberjulgeoleku-konverentsilt
Further updates and newsfeed will be available at www.cycon.org and https://twitter.com/ccdcoe