Cybersecurity took the centre stage at Ideas Abu Dhabi this morning, with a series of discussions taking place at the Forum. Moderated by WIRED Editor-in-Chief Nick Thompson, the sessions included speakers such as the ‘World’s Most Famous Hacker’ Kevin Mitnick, Former President of Estonia Toomas Ilves, Director, Tech Policy Hub, Aspen Institute Betsy Cooper and Admiral (ret.) and Former Director of the NSA Mike Rogers.
“Cyber: The New Battleground?”, the first moonshot of the day, shed light on emerging threats as a result of the exponential growth of Internet connectivity. Kevin Mitnick, former hacker and founder of Mitnick Security began the discussion with a demonstration of the ease of accessing user, even with security measures such as two-factor authentication and biometrics. Mitnick stressed the importance of enforcing greater personal and company security, with tactics ranging from password managers to businesses being more proactive in taking the right measures across entire organisations.
Taking the cybersecurity conversation further was Betsy Cooper, Director, Tech Policy Hub, Aspen Institute who was joined by Cassandra Kelly, Co-founder Pottinger and CChange. They discussed the need for companies to build security into the method of their business, along with recent strides made in the cybersecurity space. The speakers also expressed their concern with autonomous machines and robots being built for the future, remarking that critical ethical issues need to be addressed at much earlier stages of development.
In the third session, Toomas Ilves, Former President of Estonia was joined by Dr. Antonio Missiroli, Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, NATO – for a panel titled “National Cyber strategies: Challenges and Solutions”. The debate raised questions about cyber vulnerabilities for nation states, and highlighted the importance of protecting critical infrastructure and encrypting data as a defensive measure against international cyberattacks.
The ‘moonshot’ concluded with a session with Admiral (ret.) Mike Rogers, Former Director, US National Security Agency and former Commander, US Cyber Command titled “What is on the horizon?”
The thought-provoking conversations continued at Ideas Abu Dhabi with the fourth and final moonshot titled “Faster, Further, For All? The Future of Transport” which included speakers such as Josh Giegel, Co-Founder and CTO, Virgin Hyperloop One; Lucy Hawking; Vik Kachoria, CEO, Spike Aerospace; and Amin Toufani, CEO, t Labs and Chair of Finance and Economics, Singularity University.
Ideas Abu Dhabi is a two-day celebration of innovative thinking that brings the brightest minds from around world together to discuss and share ideas on some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
The event is held in association with the Aspen Institute, an educational and policy studies organisation based in Washington, DC, and is hosted by Tamkeen, a company that delivers projects enriching Abu Dhabi’s social, cultural, and educational landscape.