There's a lot more to blockchain than cryptocurrencies and ‘a distributed ledger of transactions’. Much of its potential is yet to be realised, so watch as we examine the incredible benefits blockchain technology could have for logistics tracking, smart contracts and the availability and integrity of data.

Thank you to everyone who joined us virtually for an extraordinary SASIG Workshop on the topic of romance fraud – a crime where both men and women are targeted, when social standing and education are no defence, and which causes real loss and huge emotional pain to those at the receiving end. Our prestigious speakers generously offered their time, wisdom, and first-hand experience to enable us to burrow deeper into this important topic. We heard from victims, including our own Chairman, Martin Smith MBE, and Cecilie Fjellhøy, survivor of the Tinder Swindler (as seen on Netflix), about their experiences and subsequent emotions. We spoke to industry experts to reveal the various techniques used and abused by the fiendish lotharios, and examine what can be done to prevent this crime, and what individuals can do to protect themselves against attack.

Security intelligence is key to proactively disrupting our adversaries – looking out over the horizon to anticipate where attacks will come from rather than waiting until they appear at our walls. Clear, timely, accurate and actionable security intelligence will allow us to make informed decisions and take effective action. But too much myth and mystery still surrounds this vital part of the organisation’s defensive regime. In this masterclass, we will delve into security intelligence. How is it gathered, triaged, prioritised, and applied? How does it define the cyber risk landscape and how can it be used to reduce our third-party risks? What are the sources of security intelligence (in-house and third party) and how may we develop our own security intelligence programs?

John will describe how good cyber practice at the Bank of England starts with people.

Protecting sensitive data from insider and outsider threats is critical in today’s complex world. William will explain how financial services firms should take a data centric approach to cyber resilience.

John will provide an overview of changes to cyber and resilience related standards and regulations relevant to the finance industry, including PCI DSS 4.0, Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), and NIS v2.

The Business Cyber Centre (BCC) is a centre for not only cyber security, but for the generation of cyber growth. The BCC will drive engagement with SMEs and the cyber ecosystem it partners and supports. Through skills and innovation partnerships, it will continuously evolve to meet the ever-changing nature of cyber requirements. Tom and Andrew will discuss how the financial services industry, its clients, and its customers can engage and benefit from connecting with the BCC ecosystem.

Cyber-extortionists are after everybody regardless of business sector, size or geography. By understanding and applying the laws of hackernomics to your business, you can better reallocate resources and bolster defences in advance and minimise enterprise damage. In this session, John and Dave will present data from Cymulate's recent Ransomware Survey, as well as newly published research on the state of cybersecurity effectiveness. They will share successful measures implemented by industry professionals, the top ways hackers get through our defences, and the takeaways for 2022 based on the empirical data.