Keynote Speaker I

Prof. Leandros Maglaras

Edinburgh Napier University

Biography: Dr. Leandros A. Maglaras is a professor of cybersecurity in the School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University and a visiting Professor at De Montfort University. From September 2017 to November 2019, he was the Director of the National Cyber Security Authority of Greece. He obtained a B.Sc. (M.Sc. equivalent) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 1998, M.Sc. in Industrial Production and Management from the University of Thessaly in 2004, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the University of Thessaly, in 2008 and 2014 respectively. In 2018 he was awarded a Ph.D. in Intrusion Detection in SCADA systems from the University of Huddersfield He is featured in Stanford University's list of the world’s Top 2% scientists. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and is an author of more than 200 papers in scientific magazines and conferences.

Speech Title: Critical Infrastructure Protection: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract: The digital revolution has made people more dependent on ICT technology to perform everyday tasks, whether at home or at work. The systems that support critical aspects of this smart way of living are characterized as critical, and the security level of such systems is higher as compared to others. The definition of the criticality of a system is a rather difficult exercise, and for that reason, we have seen novel cybersecurity regulations to introduce the idea of digital managed services, which include security monitoring, managed network services, or the outsourcing of business processes that are are critical to the functioning, reliability, and availability of Critical National Infrastructures (CNIs). A number of attacks target any chain of the ecosystem of processes, people, organizations, and distributors involved in the creation and delivery of a final solution or product that can be used or incorporated into a CNI, thus further extending the scope of the security posture of a system. Cyber attacks are increasing at rate and pace, forming a major trend. The widespread use of computers and the Internet, coupled with the threat of activities of cyber criminals, has made it necessary to pay more attention to the detection or improve the technologies behind information security. The rapid reliance on cloud-based data storage and third-party technologies makes it difficult for industries to provide security for their data systems. Cyber attacks against critical systems are now common and recognized as one of the greatest risks facing today's world.

Keynote Speaker II

Prof. Kevin Curran

Ulster University

Biography: Kevin Curran is a Professor of Cyber Security and Executive Co-Director of the Legal innovation Centre at Ulster University. Professor Curran is also a senior member of the IEEE. Prof Curran is globally recognized as a security Top Influencer "IFSEC Global influencers in security and fire 2020" in category Security thought leadership. He was ranked #2. CSO 30 UK recognised him as one of the 30 IT leaders within the UK in 2022. He sits on the Advisory Group of the UK Cyber Security Council, UK Vorder Advisory Group and the Northern Ireland Civil Service Cyber Leadership Board. He is a senior member of the IEEE and a Fellow of the British Blockchain Association (FBBA). Prof Curran is perhaps most well-known for his work on cyber security, blockchain and networking evidenced by over 1000 publications. Google Scholar lists his citations as 11800 with h-index of 44 and i10-index of 165. He is one of the most interviewed technology experts in the UK with over 2000+ interviews in recent years https://kevincurran.org/interviews/. 

Speech Title: The state of cybersecurity in 2024

Abstract: This talk will provide an overview of how hackers exploit systems. It will also discuss the history of how we got to this stage and what can be done to ensure we are more secure online.

Keynote Speaker Ⅲ

Prof. Shujun Li

University of Kent, UK

Biography:  Shujun Li is Professor of Cyber Security at the School of Computing, University of Kent in the UK. He is the Director of the Institute of Cyber Security for Society (iCSS), which represents the University of Kent as an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research (ACE-CSR) and an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education (ACE-CSE), both recognised by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC, part of GCHQ). His research interests are mostly around interdisciplinary topics covering cyber security and privacy, human factors, cybercrime and online harms, social media analytics, and practical applications of AI and NLP techniques. He has published over 100 research papers, and received five Best Paper Awards, including the 2022 IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems Guillemin-Cauer Best Paper Award which was selected from all (over 3,000) papers published in the two IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems journals in 2019, 2020 and 2021. He co-authored a monograph on cognitive modelling (Springer, 2020). In 2012, he received an ISO/IEC Certificate of Appreciation, for being the lead editor of ISO/IEC 23001-4:2011, the 2nd edition of the MPEG RVC standard. He is currently on the editorial boards of a number of international journals, including IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing. He has been on the organising or technical program committees of over 100 international conferences and workshops. He is a Fellow of BCS, a Senior Member of IEEE, and a co-founder and a Vice President of the ABCP (Association of British Chinese Professors) since 2018. More about his research and professional activities can be found at his personal website http://www.hooklee.com/.

Speech Title: Privacy through the Lens of Data Flows

Abstract: Nowadays we are living in a highly connected cyber-physical world, and we are increasingly depending on others, including organisations such as online service providers and other people, to live our lives and do businesses. As a result, we are disclosing our personal data with many parties online and in the physical world, leading to privacy concerns and genuine leakages of personal information to wrong hands. In this talk, the speaker will look at the user privacy protection problem from a data flows angle, and introduce his ongoing work on building a computational graph-based model to capture how data flow between people and organisations, in order to support research and development of more user-centric privacy solutions. The work was part of a research project "PriVELT: PRIvacy-aware personal data management and Value Enhancement for Leisure Travellers" (https://privelt.ac.uk/), which was led by the speaker and funded by the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), part of the UKRI (UK Research and Innovation).