Conference Room 1 – Session 4
Overview:
The day has covered a lot of ground, from geopolitical disruption and AI-powered attacks to regulatory pressure, ransomware resilience and the challenge of protecting critical infrastructure. In this closing panel, security leaders from across Irish industry reflect on what they’ve heard, share what resonates most with their own organisations, and offer a candid perspective on the decisions that will define cybersecurity leadership in the year ahead. Expect honest conversation about skills shortages, board-level expectations, AI governance and what it actually takes to keep an organisation secure in 2026.
Facilitator
Sinead O’Carroll
Editor, The Journal
Sinéad O’Carroll is a journalist, broadcaster and Editor of TheJournal, where she has worked for the past 12 years. She has presented a number of national television and radio shows and is a regular contributor to news, current affairs and sports programmes.
Panelists
Paul C Dwyer
President ICTTF International Cyber Threat Task Force / CEO, Cyber Risk International
Paul C Dwyer is recognised as one of the world’s foremost experts on cyber security, risk and privacy. As CEO of Cyber Risk International he specialises in corporate and enterprise security, development of cyber defence programs, and business operations protection for CRI clients. As founder and President of the ICTTF International Cyber Threat Task Force he is an advocate for diversity in the industry and leads a community of over 30,000 with a common goal to defeat cyber evil.
Michael Conway
Managing Director, Renaissance
Michael is Managing Director of Renaissance, having co-founded Renaissance Contingency Services in 1987 and continuing in the role following its acquisition by Northamber PLC in 2024. He leads the company’s Value-Added Distribution business and manages relationships with over sixty global cybersecurity vendors.He is the founder of CyberExpoIreland and CyberConIreland, and plays a key role in bringing new cyber and compliance technologies to the Irish market. A regular speaker and contributor on cybersecurity, Michael advocates for embedding security into organisational strategy.
He has supported continuity and crisis planning for major organisations across Ireland and the UK. Michael is a Fellow of both the Irish Computer Society and the Emergency Planning Society, a founder member of the Emergency Management Institute Ireland, and an Honorary Fellow of the EMII.
Patrick Burgess
Industry Education Instructor, GTIA
As a co-founder of Nutbourne Ltd, a Managed Service Provider, Patrick collaborates closely with MSPs, businesses and charities to enhance their IT strategies and bolster their security measures. Patrick also founded Clearbenchmark Ltd, a Benchmarking and Roadmap platform which helps Managed Service Providers drive best practice through their clients.
Patrick is also a member of GTIA where he is an Industry Education Instructor speaking across Europe at events supporting GTIA’s message of best practice, collaboration and continuous improvement. His specific areas of interest include Cyber Security, Supply Chain Management, and Client Experience.
As a Chartered member of the British Computer Society (BCS), Patrick frequently offers expert commentary on cyber and IT matters across various media platforms, including television, radio, and print.
Dr. Vivienne Mee
Founder VM Group
Vivienne has worked on large electronic discovery cases both in Ireland and across Europe with various forensic teams. As part of her PhD studies, Vivienne was a member of the Information Security Research Group at the University of Glamorgan. Here she spent a number of years working at their Forensic Laboratory, investigating cybercrimes and latest trends which fed into extensive research with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), Ministry of Defence, Defence Science & Technology Labs and UK Security Service (MI5).
Neal Mullen
Chief Information Security Officer, Health Service Executive
Neal Mullen is a seasoned cybersecurity and resilience leader with over three decades of global experience spanning the Healthcare, Manufacturing, Technology, and Retail sectors. As Chief Information Security Officer and National Director of Cybersecurity at Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE), Neal leads critical initiatives to strengthen national cyber defence and operational resilience. He is also a Board Advisory Director for the Safehouse Initiative, a not-for-profit organisation working with CISA to streamline the adoption of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework for SMEs.
Cyber Conference 2026
KeyNote:
AI IN CYBERSECURITY
MSP & CHANNEL
DATA & INFRASTRUCTURE DEFENCE
REGULATORY COMPLIANCE & GOVERNANCE
RANSOMWARE & RESILIENCE
EMERGING THREATS
IDENTITY, DECEPTION & HUMAN RISK
Closing Panel:
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