A unique Symposium

BRIM recently had the privilege of being one of the partners of the International Cyber Symposium 2024, and the team were motivated and inspired by the strategic conversations that emerged throughout. The event brought together representatives from the US, Europe and UK law enforcement, public sector, business and academic cyber expertise. A forum and format that nurtured discussions on how we can collectively address security risk and mitigation, truly derived productive and tangible outcomes that can be progressed here in the UK, on the mission that is, increased crime prevention in a digital world.

With thanks to the organisers, OSP Cyber Academy, it’s no surprise that an event hosted by a practitioner for other practitioners, was focused on strategic developments for making change rather than a commercial platform for selling or profile raising. An invaluable point of difference.

Discovering new innovations and doing business with cyber companies and not for profit cyber organisations to develop resilience is imperative, however one well served elsewhere through industry trade bodies.

BRIM has come to recognise OSP Cyber Academy’s annual strategic symposium as a forum that addresses collaborative law enforcement, business and academic strategy and, in fact, mirrors at international level, the strategic forum that our clients at UK law enforcement, has established; National CRC Group’s National Ambassador Steering Group; supporting the UK’s network of Police led, regional Cyber Resilience Centres.

BRIM became a partner of this symposium in 2023 and partners to help grow the event, to learn, listen and to help inform law enforcement, business and academia on how best to structure collaboration and analyse its impact.

The UK leading international excellence

It came as no surprise to see international interest in feasibility of deploying the Cyber Resilience Centre (CRC) model in other Interpol countries emerge as a key discussion point.

Retired Major General Martin Smith, the host, expertly delivered a key address on the leadership requirements in both crime prevention and communication.

Keynotes included The Rt Hon Stephen McPartland, author of the McPartland Report. Stephen spent time with the representatives of the CRC Network in attendance, discussing the urgency required to now scale the CRC Network to meet the needs of educating SMEs as they compose 99.8% of UK business.

“Every week the importance of Cyber Security, Resilience and Recovery is hitting the headlines, but it is not all negative. There are huge opportunities for the UK to take a strategic lead globally in economic resilience  by utilising the skills and experience embedded in Cyber Resilience Centres to help SME’s operate their businesses safely. Many will be interested in AI, but you can’t have an AI strategy without a cybersecurity strategy that embeds resilience and recovery at the core of their business.” – The Rt Hon Stephen McPartland

A stimulating appraisal of the Scottish landscape was delivered by ACC Andy Freeburn, and Keith McDevitt of Scottish Government. Really good to discuss and debate solutions with Detective Chief Inspector Leanne Alleyne representing City of London Police/The National Police Chiefs Council that currently owns the Cyber Crime portfolio on behalf of all 43 police forces in England and Wales. The assembled audience heard from Detective Superintendent Ian Kirkby, the CEO of the National CRC Group which exists in support of the 5million SME + micro organisations across England and Wales. Contributing to the conversation from the Scottish perspective was Karen Meechan and Nicola Taylor from Scotland IS, the trade body for the tech industry in Scotland.

A standout outcome for BRIM, was the recurring theme from several of the panel sessions and keynotes that communications are now a critical priority for the cyber industry. BRIM works strategically on this topic from advising on the data informed model of cracking SME online engagement, to our Partner Joanna Goddard’s White Paper on the emerging need to regulate the marketing of cyber, as is upheld in professional services such as legal and financial sectors.  To hear Former Deputy Special Agent at U.S. Secret Service, Matt O’Neill address the urgency for communications expertise to be engaged across the cyber industry was music to our ears.

Bring on the marketeers

Having led the Secret Service’s (SS) global cyber investigations focused on the world’s most prolific hackers; Matt O’Neill left the SS post to form his own company, as one of the most decorated agents in the history of the United States. To hear him highly engage with Alan Greig and Joanna Goddard on the topic of ‘bringing in the marketeers’ to use marketing techniques for crime prevention was inspiring.

Divide and conquer – collaboration is alive

Duplication, or opportunity to divide and conquer, was another theme debated with the Cyber Centre of Excellence led by Kurtis Troy. BRIM looks forward to facilitating collaboration to explore this further for progress with SMEs and public sector across the CRC Network.

During the event Mandy hosted a panel discussion with ACC Andy Freeburn from Police Scotland and Matt O’Neill on the latest preventions in the criminal underworld, highlighting again the need for full collaboration, as well as innovation including Police Scotland’s amazing Digital Dogs .

“This event is quite unique in that the learnings from it genuinely come from the practitioners and not from companies seeking to sell product. This changes the dynamic and the tone of the event completely. BRIM has over the past 5 years brought together many experts with a common vision and now the next step is to deliver the areas that Joanna has highlighted here. The BRIM team we have now is transformative in terms of marketing, analytics, data management and reporting. It was a huge privilege to be there and we all owe a great thanks to the vision of Tommy and Irene of OSP Cyber Academy. Undoubtedly the value of this event will grow and grow every year” – Dr. Mandy Haeburn-Little

Making your mark on the security landscape

This year Dr Mandy Haeburn-Little, Alan Greig, Joanna Goddard and new team members at BRIM, David Socha and Maggie Titmuss, attended, with BRIM chairing panel discussions.

The team also designed and delivered a workshop titled ‘Getting Board Buy-In’. The workshop received an outstanding amount of feedback. The suggestions and techniques shared and the subsequent ‘digital tool kit’ to assist senior cyber leaders convey in report, presentation and pitch formats to Board decision makers on budget, has been extremely well received. Something BRIM intends to provide more of in future for CISOs, CTOs and those in cyber leadership roles, assisting them in making their mark throughout their organisation’s security imperatives.

Delivering progress

BRIM will play an active role in delivering progress. We will support the OSP Cyber Academy annual International Symposium with future masterclasses where you may ‘bring your own CEO or FD’ to a session to continue with this support.

World class pride

It was a great privilege to be part of the host team welcoming some of our international senior leaders from industry, the Secret Service and Interpol also at the Braemar Gathering and helping to raise funds for the Royal Marines Charity. Whilst now serving clients internationally, BRIM was founded in Scotland.  It was a pleasure to help some of those from Argentina, The USA, and Europe, discover Scotland and its heritage for the first time.

Making a mark on whisky cask fraud

We are proud of our Scottish routes and delighted that the calibre of cybercrime prevention emerging from Scotland across the industry is recognised so highly. A wonderful moment to see our clients at Casknet deliver for some of our international guests, their very first sip of amber nectar!

World class whisky sampling, whilst showcasing the Casknet whitepaper on the staggering levels of fraud in the whisky investment industry was a memorable experience.

Takeaways

Of the many takeaways, BRIM identified these highlights as imperative to the work we deliver in assisting public and private clients to make their mark on the security landscape.

• What we are collectively doing isn’t working. The cyber industry has for many years raised the spectre of the number of organisations at risk and the need for greater stakeholder awareness. Whilst we are all collectively doing our part the risk remains so maybe it’s time to re-evaluate the approach.
• Should we focus on the next generation? As we collectively continue to support raising cyber risk awareness at board level should we now focus our efforts on those who may one day sit on boards?
• SMEs ‘ain’t buying fear’, the world over. A considered approach to solution-oriented engagement and selling is required. Understanding SME markets and buyer profiles is critical. SME needs change and communication need to remain appraised and adaptive to that change.
• Communication is critical, ‘Bring on the marketeers’. Marketeers that are adept at communicating with measured ROI and impact across complex stakeholder groups and customer bases, are urgently required at the strategy table. Transferring skills from ‘selling IT and software’ alone is not working. Social engineering skills may be informative, and monitoring the techniques of how entrepreneurial criminals work, can inform crime prevention communication techniques. Data informed refinement underpins this.
• International collaboration is key, and structuring that imperative. Five Eyes and Interpol communities already collaborate and must continue to work further at strategic level together; there is no room for territorial dispute across devolved nations at local level. The CRC Network is recognised as a breakthrough solution to SME risk. With 99.8% of business in the UK SMEs, it’s time sensitive to get this right.

BRIM has recently appointed some exceptional new associates to join our founding partners and looks forward to bringing you more news about our expanding team soon.

May we help you make your mark on the security landscape?

If you would like to discuss a feasibility study for another country, or indeed explore getting involved as a sponsor or attendee at the 2025 Cyber Symposium, please get in touch. We will be delighted to help you explore that.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to discuss how we can help you make your mark within your own organisations and get Board buy-in. We provide small pockets of support on this, delivered directly by our consultants who are experienced in this field who work swiftly and discreetly with you.

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