International intelligence agencies share stage at cyber summit in Glasgow 

Members of the so-called ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance – comprising agencies in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – are meeting in Glasgow today to discuss ways of improving nations’ resilience in the face of global cyber attacks. 

The public session will take place at the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) annual conference CYBERUK, which will see around 2,500 cyber security experts gather for a two-day conference at the Scottish Event Campus.

At a session chaired by Yasmin Brooks, the Director of Cyber at Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the officials will discuss global cyber vulnerabilities, shared experiences, and their different approaches.

Cyber security is an international team sport…it’s vital that we work closely with our allies to make the world as safe as possible.

Ciaran Martin

The session will hear from Ciaran Martin, the NCSC’s chief executive, Rob Joyce, senior cyber security adviser at America’s National Security Agency, Scott Jones, head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Scott McLeod, first assistant director-general of Australia’s Protect, Assure & Enable, and Jan Thornborough, unit manager of New Zealand’s National Cyber Security Centre

“Cyber security is an international team sport, and we are delighted to host allies from around the world in this public way to discuss how we best defend from common adversaries,” said Martin.

“Cyber attacks do not respect international boundaries, and many of the threats and vulnerabilities we face are shared around the globe. Each nation has sovereignty to defend itself as it sees best fit, but it’s vital that we work closely with our allies to make the world as safe as possible.”

The NCSC will welcome specialists from across government, industry, and law enforcement to the two-day summit, which will include speeches from Jeremy Fleming, director of GCHQ, Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington.

The theme of CYBERUK 2019 will be “developing and communicating good cyber security to the citizen and helping to make the technology they buy more secure by default”, said the NCSC in a statement. The conference also forms part of the first Cyber Scotland Week.