S36 Ep25: Steve Durbin - Global Threats, UK Blind Spots: Cyber Resilience in a Volatile World

Today, Steve returns to Business Matters with Juliette Foster. The war continues to rage in Iran, and with it comes an increasing threat of cyber attacks. Steve shares his thoughts on what the conflict means for cyber investment in the private sector, British critical infrastructure, and the British government’s approach to cyber resilience. Steve and Juliette also discuss the UK Financial Minister’s Spring Statement, which didn’t include any references to cybersecurity. What does this omission signal? How will multinational companies react? Is cyber a macro economic issue? This, and more, in Steve’s latest appearance on Business Matters.

Key Takeaways:

1. Cyber is a macroeconomic issue, not just a technical one.
2. AI has changed the way that the threat landscape is evolving, but it's also brought benefits for cyber defence.
3. Governments have limited abilities to support the cyber resilience of the private sector; cooperation between large enterprises supports the whole business landscape.

Tune in to hear more about:

1. If Steve thinks the UK Finance Minister’s spring statement will impact cyber investments (8:57)
2. The impact on UK businesses of slower economic growth in the UK (14:59)
3. The state of government cyber resilience in the UK (22:39)

Standout Quotes:

1. “What you have to do is you have to look at your crown jewels and back to this minimum viable company notion that I mentioned right at the beginning of our chat. You have to understand what the most critical elements of your business are, and then you can track those through these complex supply chains. Those are the pieces you need to be protecting because that's what's gonna bring your business down or ensure that you can continue to operate.” - Steve Durbin
2. “The business climate in the UK at the moment is exceptionally tough, exceptionally demanding. I think if you look at some of the legislation that's recently come in particularly around hiring, retaining employees, the sheer cost of doing business has risen pretty much exponentially for most organizations, and that means that they have to make cuts somewhere. If they can't do it in terms of some of the core business, they will look to some of the fringe elements. So if you've got an organization that perhaps does not view cyber as being core to what they do, then that may well be somewhere where a cut is made.” - Steve Durbin
3. “I think we'll certainly see a maturing of the industry. It's a very young industry still in terms of the way that it's evolving and changing, and I think that with the benefit of a couple of years under our belt, then most organizations will have moved to a stronger position from a maturity standpoint, and I would hope certainly that we're talking very much more about resilience rather than protection.”

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