In episode 56, Dr Mandy Haeburn-Little is joined by Detective Superintendent Joseph Anthony, Head of the National Cyber Crime Team and National Police Chiefs' Council Lead for Fraud & Cyber Protect. Joe recently took up his new position at City of London Police, so Mandy was keen to meet him and learn more about the role and his vision.

In episode 54 of the CyberVersed podcast, we introduce our latest National Ambassador, the ICO. Heather Toomey, Principal Cyber Specialist at the ICO joins Mandy Haeburn-Little.

Mandy begins by asking Heather to provide a snapshot of the ICO, noting that many people assume they know the organisation's role, but the extent of its work is rarely fully understood. Heather provides a useful overview of the ICO as the UK's regulator for information, security and data protection. Although. Heather concedes they are most commonly associated with the Data Protection Act and UK GDPR, she goes on to explain the breadth of their remit, overseeing a number of other regulations across the UK.

When quizzed about the 'big bad wolf' perception, Heather acknowledges that, as a regulatory organisation, enforcement is necessary. Still, she highlights the wide range of proactive work they do through their Business Advisory Service and Audit and Assurance Team to support businesses, many of which don't have personnel dedicated to data protection or compliance.

She also points to the range of tailored guidance and the ICO's goal of ensuring it is appropriate and relevant to the organisations engaging with them, helping them understand what good looks like.

The conversation helps listeners to understand the ICO's approach and how organisations are encouraged to engage, whether to explore something new they intend to implement or because they've experienced an incident. If it is in response to a breach, Heather's clear advice is to engage as early as possible; this not only shows they recognise and accept there could be a compliance issue, but also helps them get the support they need promptly.

Heather also explains why the ICO was keen to become a National Ambassador and work with the CRC Network, and why she believes the CRC services will be a good solution for many of the businesses they engage with.

It is an engaging conversation and a first-class insight into an organisation keen to work proactively with others. To round off the episode, Mandy and Heather talk about AI and other emerging technologies, with Heather encouraging organisations to take advantage of the growth opportunities they present, but only after taking time to understand the risks.

As Mandy states at the outset, most people assume they know what ICO is. However, the conversation reveals many strands to their work and that, while they may be a regulatory body, their primary goal is to engage with and support UK organisations. To quote Heather: "Everybody is a statistic if they don't choose to make a conscious effort to avoid being one." ICO are certainly helping with those efforts daily.

In episode 52 of CyberVersed, Mandy Haeburn-Little is joined by Tom Egglestone, Head of Claims, International at Resilience.

After a short introduction to Resilience from Tom, Mandy and he go on to discuss a range of topics around cyber insurance, the trends the company has witnessed across their client base recently, and some of the issues and challenges Tom predicts companies will face now and in the future.

Tom begins by noting that cybercrime trends often align with geopolitics, citing a shift in the nature of cybercrime evident around the start of the war in Ukraine.

The conversation then explores insurance cover and how cyber insurance differs from traditional insurance, given its relative newness and the need for the cover to reflect current cybercrime trends. Tom explains the challenges of determining what type of cover you need, but he does offer SMEs guidance on the baseline cover they must consider.

Mandy then quizzes Tom on what surprises him about the nature of the claims, to which Tom comments on how quickly trends change and how quickly cybercriminals can act to exploit vulnerabilities. He also talks about the rapid rise in Infostealers that collect information and steal Session Tokens, and how these are being used to help cybercriminals gain entry to systems.

Mandy asks Tom whether some of the recent high-profile attacks have influenced insurance uptake, especially among the SME community; Tom believes it has an impact, but he also highlights the low uptake of cyber insurance among smaller companies, and suggests that the cyber insurance industry needs to do more to promote the value of cyber insurance to the SME community. However, he acknowledges that many SMEs still believe it won't happen to them because they mistakenly think cybercriminals focus on large organisations.

The conversation then moves to the business lifecycle and whether there are different stages when a business might be more vulnerable. Tom offers some interesting thoughts on this and explains the different types of vulnerabilities a business might encounter as it grows from a micro business to a small business. He also offers valuable advice on the basics and on how following NCSC's guidance can significantly improve an SME's cyber resilience.

Tom also discusses reporting and the need to encourage more of it. He shares his thoughts on why the reporting rate is low and on some of the challenges faced by victims of cybercrime. He cites 'Ransomware: Victim Insights on Harms to Individuals, Organisations and Society', a paper by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). Tom recommends the paper for valuable insights into the psychological and long-lasting impact of ransomware attacks.

Tom also talks about AI attacks and how cybercriminals are currently using AI, especially to make phishing attacks much harder to detect. However, he counters this by once again highlighting why having the basics in place makes a significant difference to your cyber resilience.

The conversation rounds off by exploring the supply chain, what SMEs need to do to understand the vulnerabilities in their supply chain, and assessing the impact an attack on a supplier's system would have on their own business.

In this episode, not only do Mandy and Nik reflect on some of the great work that has been done since the podcast was introduced, but they also look to the future, with Nik outlining plans already under discussion and development, as well as his ambitions for the future of the CRC Network.

Mandy begins asking Nik, who is the first Deputy Commissioner to have cyber and fraud within his remit, what his role feels like, to which Nik responds by outlining some of the challenges he faces daily. However, he is quick to point out the significant contribution made by partner organisations and the immense commitment and passion shown by all in working together to keep the public safe. He expands on this by explaining the impact of private sector partners and how they are making a vital contribution to the growing 'family' that now extends beyond law enforcement.

Nik kindly discusses the value of the CyberVersed podcast and explains how humbled he is by the transparency, humility, and time the National Ambassador representatives have given, demonstrating their commitment to the podcast and engaging with and sharing valuable insights and intelligence to help listeners make better decisions in their businesses. Indeed, Nik goes on to discuss the wider commitment shown by the National Ambassadors daily and the significant role they play in achieving the long-term goal of making the UK a safer place to work and live.

Mandy then turns the conversation to the recent Annual CRC Network Summit in London. Nik expresses his delight with the day's outcomes and highlights the enormous value of bringing so many relevant people into one room. Singling out the keynote speaker, Rob Elsey Chief Digital Information Officer at the Co-op, Nik enthuses about his candour and the reflections he shared not only about the company's resilience but also about his awareness of his team's emotional state during an intensely demanding period.

Nik goes on to offer some thoughts on wider policing issues, in particular Police Reform, and why he believes it would be a good step forward; however, he also shares his concerns and reservations and expresses the need to retain and expand on what is working well as we move forward.

To finish, Mandy asks Nik to talk about the vision for the future. Nik provides fantastic insight into the new police headquarters and how they aim to integrate policing with the private sector. He shares his vision of a 'campus' comprising a state-of-the-art police headquarters, a court building and a Public/Private sector collaboration and learning centre. His explanation of the value to be derived from such a campus highlights Nik's passion and clarity of thought in how we tackle cybercrime and fraud going forward.

Finally, we would like to thank everyone who has taken part in previous podcasts. We greatly appreciate your contribution to the cyber conversation and look forward to working with you again to continue creating helpful and insightful content.