The upcoming Northern WARP Conference on the 12th September in Manchester comes at a pivotal time in UK cyber security and information governance. The world’s geopolitical picture is increasingly unstable. Cyber attacks are becoming more prevalent. AI is drastically shifting the landscape of cyber security.
Data is also being shared more freely and supported by new legislation and programmes of work. This presents huge opportunities and can have a positive impact on the lives of people supported by the public sector. However there it also creates further risks around the safety of people’s personal information, particularly when combined with the shifting cyber threat landscape.
To steer the public sector through these changes, there is a huge range of work being undertaken by stakeholders all across the UK public sector. This conference aims to showcase, discuss and understand some of this work to better support delegates in understanding what tools and support is available to them. It also aims to allow delegates to look ahead and understand what the future may hold in this ever shifting landscape. It is available for free to anybody working within a WARP member organisation. All these sessions and the whole conference is available remotely via our conference platform. However this does not include the final panel session as NCSC will be represented and it therefore cannot be streamed.
Firstly we would like to announce the four plenary sessions for the conference. The opening plenary session will be ‘Lived Experience of a Cyber Attack and Data Breach’. This panel seeks to draw on the experiences of our panelists to give delegates valuable insight into how to manage potential major incidents. The panel includes Fay Selvan who is CEO of the Big Life Group who experienced a major cyber incident in 2023. Martin Blythe from Gateshead Council to talk about their recent experience. Finally Heather Toomey from the ICO will be coming to talk about her experience from a regulatory standpoint in dealing with both cyber attacks and data breaches. The final panellist will be announced shortly.
The second plenary session is entitled ‘The Challenge of Securing the Supply Chain’. This session looks at the work happening in the world of supply chain security. It will particularly look at the area of contract management, which is a key tool to protect the local public sector’s diverse third party supply chains. We have invited colleagues involved in some of the major pieces of work in this space. Jenny McEneaney from the LGA, Lorna Kirkby from DSIT, Terry Bradley from GSeC will all come to share their knowledge and also discuss how the different pieces of work they are involved in fit together and how it can be used by the local public sector.
The third plenary talk is entitled ‘The Human Factor in Cyber and Data Protection’. This will be a very exciting discussion, exploring the importance of humans in our cyber and data systems. Joining this one is expert of people cyber security behaviour, Professor Jason Nurse from Kent University and Cyb Safe, Dave Sifleet from the LGA who was involved in their recent Cyber Grab Bag and finally, Stephen Girling to talk about GMCA’s recent work with residents and staff.
Our closing plenary session is ‘Building a Robust Intelligence Community’. This panel discusses how we collaborate and share information safely and responsively as a community. Joining this one will be Daniel Doocey from MHCLG to talk about their Defend as One Programme. Matt Smith from ISfL, will also join to talk about WARP Talk and the impact that it has had. Mark Brett, a key figure in forming of WARP’s, will join to share his wealth of experience around how we should best work together. Finally NCSC will also sit on this panel. This does mean that this one will only be for in person delegates and will not be streamed.
We also have a range of really exciting seminar sessions to announce shortly so keep your eye out!
For further information and to secure your ticket to attend, follow this link: www.i-network.org.uk/northern-warp-conference-2025