Speakers
Geoff White
Technology Journalist
An award-winning television news journalist, Geoff White’s exclusives have covered everything from fraud in the internet dating industry to the shadowy world of Russian cybercrime gangs.
He works mainly for the BBC and Channel 4 News, with a focus on tech security, personal data, privacy and e-crime.
He is also the co-creator of The Secret Life of Your Mobile Phone, a live, interactive phone hacking stage performance which shows how the global technology industry is harvesting the data leaking from your handset.
For Channel 4 News he created the Data Baby project, a unique experiment which used a fictional online identity to expose how our personal data is being used – and abused – online.
Dr Daniel Dresner
University of Manchester
After 22 years with NCC, Daniel founded The Dresner Associates to detect human vulnerabilities in networks, and mend the often broken threads that bind information together. Over 1000 students have studied cyber security and governance with him at The University of Manchester and engage in his research projects. He recently asked for a job title that would neither sound silly and would fit on a business card so the University met one criterion and made him Academic Coordinator for Cyber Security. His key works include the Green Surf Code for Children, Desert Island Controls for Business, and The Three Universal Laws for Information and Cyber Security (with Neira Jones).
Daniel provides informed comment on cyber security policy to the security services and is a visiting lecturer at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. He carefully tends to clients implementing the stringent requirements of the ISO/IEC 27001 standard and co-created the IASME programme to bring a benchmark of cyber security to SMEs.
Helen Williams
Cyber Protect Officer, NW Regional Cyber Crime Unit
Helen Williams has worked for Merseyside Police for 10 years. She joined the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (Titan) in May 2014 as Cyber Protect Officer. She works alongside officers in the regional cyber-crime unit who investigate malware, network intrusion and denial of service attacks.
Her role is part of a national network linked to the UK Governments National Cyber Security Centre and aims to help businesses and the community in the North West, by providing information about the latest cyber threats, advice on how to protect your data, information and online assets and free resources to help you stay safe online.
Phil Swan
Chief Information Officer, Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Phil leads the Digital Service at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk) including GM-Connect. GM-Connect is Greater Manchester’s information sharing, governance and data science programme which was established in 2016 to enable far ranging public service reform and devolution. In addition he is working across the sector to convene a GM wide Digital Action Plan to deliver the Mayor’s ambition and wider GCMA vision for Greater Manchester to be a globally recognised digital city-region. He is also Programme Co-Director for CityVerve, and leading work on CyberGM – a new initiative to develop the cyber industry in Greater Manchester and improve our collective resilience.
Previously Phil’s roles have included developing and growing the public sector partnership, iNetwork; founding and successfully exiting a niche public sector support business; and managing BP’s global eRetail programme.
He’s also a passionate governor of Glossopdale Community College.
@phil_swan
Prof. Conor Ward
Visiting Professor – Queen Mary University of London, Chair Cloud Industry Legal Forum
Conor Ward is a former partner in the international law firm Hogan Lovells, where he was group manager of its London based IP and Technology group specialising in computers and communications law. He is a Visiting Professor at Queen Mary, University of London’s Centre for Commercial Law Studies where he teaches the post graduate IT Law course. Conor has extensive experience of advising clients in relation to outsourcing and cloud services as well as advising in relation to, and following, cyber security incidents including in dealing with the aftermath of such incidents such as liaising with regulators, advising in relation to legal actions against the perpetuators and helping clients deal with law enforcement and criminal prosecutors.
Conor is a board member of the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) and chairs the Cloud Industry Legal Forum which advises on Cloud Computing Legal Issues. He was a member of the European Commission’s working group on the proposed Code of Conduct for Cloud Service Providers. Conor is recognised as a leading practitioner in both IT law and outsourcing in the main UK and international legal directories. He was a director of the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) for over 10 years.
Michael Trevett
Deputy Director, NHS Digital
A graduate of Information Systems, Mike’s database and systems experience began with BT in the early 1990’s. Since then he has worked in the telecommunications, retail, automotive and financial services sectors, latterly as a CISO, before joining the Civil Service to look after Information Security and Legal Services for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in 2009. Whilst at ONS, Mike took on responsibility for the full protective security and Assurance portfolios before joining Cabinet Office as the Head of the Office of the Government Senior Information Risk Owner. In late 2016, this posting ended and Mike joined NHS Digital to help implement the new Data Security Standards for Health and Care published in Dame Fiona Caldicott’s review in June 2016.
A Fellow of the British Computer Society and Chartered IT Professional, and a life Fellow of the Institute of Direct Marketing Mike’s role within the Civil Service has seen his passion for the pragmatic management of Information Risk and cyber security come to the fore as he has worked with organisations across government and the wider public sector to help organisations towards greater cyber maturity.
Stephen Elgar
Information Governance Alliance (IGA)
Stephen Elgar is a specialist in confidentiality and security for sharing patient records. He supported the roll out of these record systems in London for many years and has been part of the NHS Digital team for the last 4 years. He took a degree in Geography, trained as a Nurse, has an MSC in Information Security and is a CISSP member.
William Barker
Head of the National Cyber Security Programme Local, DCLG
William is a career Civil Servant with over twenty five years’ experience of working at the heart of Whitehall and local government on public service reform and digital government agendas.
In his current role he focuses on the interplay between Cyber Resilience, Digital Government and open policy making, and how they impact on central/ local government and wider public service provision. Previous posts have included senior secondments into local government and working in the fields of e-democracy, constitutional and Civil Service reform. He is regularly consulted as a contributory author/public speaker on cyber security and digital innovation by organisations such as LGA, SOLACE, SOCITM, and St George’s House. He is at Visiting Fellow at Brunel University.
Mark Tomlin
Manager, Cyber Security, KPMG
Mark Tomlin is a Manager within KPMGs cyber security practice in the North, based from Manchester. Mark works across sectors and manages the delivery of strategy and governance, security transformation, cyber defence services, and assessment and assurance engagements. Mark is PRINCE 2 certified, a ISO 27001 lead auditor, and has attained an MSc degree in Information Security from Royal Holloway, University of London.
Sarah Gallear
Warrington Borough Council
Having been working in the public sector for over 16 years, I have over 8 years’ experience in information security and have been specialising in information governance for the past two years. I’ve been chairing the North West WARP since 2014 and have been a member of the iNetwork WARP since its early days. My interests are technology, cyber security, data protection, breach management and keeping information safe
Lee Carass
Trend Micro
Lee is Senior Sales Engineer at Trend Micro and is responsible for advising Trend Micro’s UK customers on security transformation and consolidation. Lee has 20 years of experience and has held IT infrastructure and security roles across Yorkshire Post Newspapers, Johnston Press, Civica and before Trend Micro he held the position of Senior Sales Engineer at Sophos. Lee works with customers to understand their risks and develop security strategies that enable business objectives, with focus on digital transformation and cloud.
Paul Mason
Secarma
Paul Mason the Training Manager for cybersecurity firm Secarma. He is an ethical hacker, a deeply experienced educator and finalist in a number of international cybersecurity challenges. His advice is regularly sought by government departments including Police Scotland, educational bodies and commercial clients requiring security testing. Fusing his joint passion for technology and teaching, Paul has worked as a security consultant and more recently developed cybersecurity qualifications for the Scottish Qualifications Authority and the Department of Education alongside bespoke staff security training for companies and organisations. Paul likes monkeys
David Willis
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust
David is Head of Information Governance at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust. He has MSc Forensic Computing and is a CISSP Certified Information Security Professional with over 25 years experience.
Nick Woodcraft
Senior Technical Advisor, Government Digital Services
Nick is Senior Technical Advisor at Government Digital Services and prior to that was Applications Product Manager, Common Technology Services at Government Digital Services.
Peter Chamberlin
Technical Architect, Government Digital Services
Peter Chamberlin is a technical architect working on GOV.UK Verify, and has been focussed on architecture for identity since joining GDS Government as a Platform in 2016. He has extensive experience in building web technologies at scale, and prior to joining the Civil Service worked as a principal developer at BBC News.
Ajike Alli-Ameh
Lead for Information Sharing and Security Programme, iNetwork & Coordinator of North West WARP