<p>Named one of the UK’s Top 20 Most Influential Women in Cybersecurity, Dr. Jessica Barker helps audiences understand the psychology, neuroscience, and sociology of scams in order to protect themselves against cybercriminals. </p><p>A renowned, award-winning global leader working in the human side of cybersecurity, Dr. Jessica Barker is passionate about positively influencing cybersecurity awareness, behavior and culture in organizations around the world. In her eye-opening, informative keynotes she provides real-world examples to help audiences understand human vulnerabilities, and how cybercriminals use emotional bait in order to make us click before we think. Attendees leave with a greater awareness of how and why we are manipulated, helping us to become more vigilant against cybercrime. </p><p>The UK’s go-to expert for media such as BBC, <em>Sky News</em> and <em>Wired</em>, Jessica has delivered keynotes for organizations such as NATO, the World Government Summit and RSA. She serves on numerous boards, including the UK Government Cyber Security Advisory Board, and is author of the bestselling book <em>Confident Cyber Security</em>. In 2023 she was awarded Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to cybersecurity by King Charles in his first Birthday Honors. </p><p>Jessica is co-founder—with her husband, ethical hacker and social engineer FC, a.k.a. “FreakyClown”—of UK cybersecurity firm Cygenta.</p>
Cybersecurity expert and humanist
<ul><li><strong>Why Social Engineering is BS</strong></li><li>Social engineering is involved in most “hacks,” with phishing the number-one threat to organizations. In this keynote, Dr Jessica Barker explores the psychology, neuroscience and sociology of scams. She explores the emotional bait that criminals use to manipulate us and the human biases that make us all vulnerable. Using real-world examples of phishing emails, messages and calls, Jessica walks through how criminals push the emotional buttons of their targets and get us to click before we think.</li><li>Participants leave with a greater awareness of how and why we are manipulated, helping them spot scams and be more vigilant against cybercrime. </li><li><strong>Human & Artificial Intelligence: Social Engineering Now & Next</strong></li><li>In this keynote, Dr. Jessica Burger combines her informative talk on social engineering with the technological advances of recent years and predictions for the future. How do cybercriminals leverage AI to make their attacks more advanced and effective. Exploring the role of AI in cyber crime now and looking ahead to the future, this jargon-free overview empowers everyone with an understanding of AI.</li><li><strong>How a Hack Works: Demonstrating a Phishing Attack</strong></li><li>Year on year, phishing attacks keep on growing. It is now the biggest online threat to organisations. This session brings the who, how and why of phishing to life. Dr Jessica Barker explores how phishing attacks work, the human factors behind them and what we can do to mitigate against them. Including a demonstration of a spear-phishing email attack (from the attacker and victim side), participants leave with an insight into the reality of cyber insecurity and both the human and technical elements at play. </li><li><strong>Why Culture is Key to Cyber Security</strong></li><li>Cyber security culture eats breaches for breakfast. In this session, Dr Jessica Barker explains what this really means: what actually is security culture and why is it so important? Jessica makes cyber security culture real: it is not something intangible but rather something that we can define, understand, measure and influence. She explains why it is the foundation to an organization’s security posture. Participants leave this session with a greater understanding not only of what culture is, but also how they can play a part in building a positive security culture. Jessica shares practical advice to help everyone stay safe online at home as well as at work.</li></ul>