Cyber Trends on Sky Business

Simon’s interest in Information Technology started young when he was programming software before setting up and managing his school’s IT systems. Early in his career, he was Head of Internet technology at Williams Lea, before becoming the youngest appointed Technical Director of Reading Room.

In 2002, he left to set up Digital Craftsmen, believing in putting security first, from infrastructure design and build through to specialist cloud hosting, long before it has become the key issue it is today. To underline the business’s commitment to the security services it offers to clients, the company recently achieved a level of excellence in its ISO27001 report, alongside its Cyber Essentials accreditations.

Paul has over 25 years of experience in infrastructure and systems design, build and rollout for internal and cloud-based applications. In his role as Technical Director with Digital Craftsmen, he has led the delivery of multiple projects for public and private sector clients, always focusing on risk management and security.

Increasingly, Paul has helped businesses to resolve major security issues on their infrastructure and networks. He is passionate about sharing the learnings of how the most common mistakes in cyber security can and will significantly impact organisations and the basic steps to avoid them.

Brian Brackenborough is the CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) at Channel 4, the British television network. Previously, he was head of Information Security (Acting) at the BBC. In addition, Brian is an Advisory Board member for The Studio @ Home and helped to shape the agenda for one of the most influential thought leadership events for enterprise technology leaders.

He is a keen advocate of collaboration in the cyber security industry and is a well-respected expert speaker about cyber security in the UK and the world. Brian is often called upon to talk about the essential role of CISOs in organisations and why cyber security is not just reserved for the IT department.

Barry Coatesworth is a Director with Guidehouse’s Global Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure (ES&I) Practice. He has over 30 years of experience in energy, finance, and the public sector working within risk, compliance and security.

An internationally recognized cyber security expert and advisor, Barry is part of the Industry Advisory Group for the Cyber Essential Scheme in conjunction with the UK’s Department of Business, Energy and Industry Strategy, as well as a research advisor to the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) on Big data, Ethics and privacy.

Paul Baird is an IT veteran with over 25 years’ experience now solely focusing his efforts on cybersecurity and helping organisations drive down cyber risk. Paul’s background has included building a security ethos and security operations centre (SOC) from scratch for several leading enterprises in the UK housing and automotive industries. Having moved to the vendor side to join Qualys as their Chief Technical Security Officer (CTSO) in 2021, he now drives Qualys’ vision for cybersecurity at C-Level across customers and partners in the UK and North EMEA. He is a people-focused leader and passionate about supporting his team. Paul was awarded a fellowship by the Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISEC) last year for his continued contribution to cybersecurity.

Matt Middleton-Leal is Managing Director UK, Ireland and Africa at Qualys.  With 25 years working in the security industry, Matt brings significant experience having worked for many organisations on security projects in areas such as Threat & Vulnerability Management, Identity & Access Management, Networks and Database Security.

Matt’s experience includes leading teams managing operational security and consulting on security management projects. He has held numerous roles within Computer Associates, IBM, CyberArk and Netwrix before joining Qualys in 2021. Matt is a CISSP® – Certified Information Systems Security Professional.