Infosecurity Europe, the biggest cybersecurity conference on the whole of the continent, will be rolling into London next week and bringing with it a host of hackers, coders and spooks.
On the agenda this year is everything from prevention to response, with plenty of discussions of malware, cyberespionage and data protection along the way.
But ahead of the conference, what will you not be hearing from the cybersecurity industry as it seeks to flog you more tin and set up you with its friends in consulting?
1. GCHQ: We value your privacy more than security
The revival of the Snooper’s Charter (or to use its official name: the Investigatory Powers Bill) comes after a series of battles between the cybersecurity industry and the British and American governments.
Whilst the US looks to have quashed many of its spies’ powers in ongoing debates over the Patriot Act, the home secretary Theresa May looks likely to endow GCHQ in Cheltenham with even more toys to play with in the battle against "extremists" and other miscreants.
That in mind when Ciaran Martin, director general of cybersecurity at GCHQ , kicks off the conference with the opening keynote, do not expect the spook to be too worried about the damage his new powers could cause to privacy.
2. Security vendors: Don’t worry and be happy
Longtime readers of CBR will be used to doom-laden headlines as hackers become ever more ingenious and strike even deeper into corporate networks, such as those at corporate leviathans as US retailer Target, the bank JP Morgan and the auction site eBay.
Even with all the money pouring into the cybersecurity industry we cannot expect many of these attacks to let up in the near future. Recalling his firm’s predictions for this year Raj Samani, CTO at Intel Security EMEA, struck a pessimistic note likely to be common at the conference.
"Long-term players will become stealthier information gatherers," he said. "Sophisticated cybercriminals will shift from quick attacks to intelligence gathering. Newcomers will look for ways to steal money and disrupt their adversaries."
3. ‘On no account should you move to the cloud.’
Silicon Valley has increasingly been accused of frothiness as market evaluations for three-week-old start-ups stretch into the millions, but its enthusiasm for the cloud makes "fluffy" an equally apt description.
As far as security goes the use of the cloud – or in the words of Samani, "somebody else’s computer" – has left many a CIO jittery. For some reason the idea of keeping sensitive data outside of the building is concerning to a great many, even if the industry in general loves the cloud.
Bob Tarzey, a director at research firm Quocirca, thinks the latter view is correct. "In the background, the message that actually many cloud infrastructure and application services are far more secure than many have credited should be getting through," he said. " In fact, in many cases they are far more secure than on-premise deployments."
4. John McAfee will affirm his faith in the government
Since leaving the company that used to bear his name (now called Intel Security), John McAfee has cut a controversial figure, having to quickly vacate Belize in Central America after his neighbour was found dead in 2012.
He is also infamous for having attacked McAfee in a rather bizarre video released on YouTube, and more recently criticised Google for its corrosive effect on privacy at the Def Con conference in Las Vegas last year.
"Google or at least certain people within Google – I will not mention names because I am not a rude gentleman – would like us to believe that if we have nothing to hide we should not mind if everybody knows everything that we do," he said at the time. Do not expect him to relent this time round.
5. ‘You don’t need any more of our gear.’
Many of the big security vendors are doing their best to convert customers to the benefits of better planning when it comes to cybersecurity, simultaneously decrying the focus on technology that characterises their younger rivals.
Even so, Infosecurity is among the best opportunities many of them will get to sell you some more gear, and don’t expect them to miss it. Already Gemalto and Norse have announced plans to showcase new products – and they won’t be the only ones.
