Leading cyber security experts, hackers and cyber-strategists will converge on Dublin City University today for the European Cyber Threat Summit.

Among the guests is Edward Snowden (remote video link); former CIA operative and whistle-blower, Steven Wilson; Head of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, Ira Winkler;  and London cyber-fraudster Tony Sales.

The European Cyber Threat Summit is organised by Cyber Risk International. CEO Paul C Dwyer commented: “’Businesses need to be prepared not scared. Attackers are evolving and developing their approaches to compromise the weakest link in an organisation’s security posture. We will outline the biggest threats currently out there and how to avoid them. At the summit we are also running a special one day non-technical cyber security training programme for SME business owners, helping them understand basic cyber hygiene and what to do if attacked.’’

GCHQ and NSA permitting, the final session of the day will be a talk by Snowden (pictured) on the geopolitical nature of hacking by nation states, followed by an interview with Dwyer.  Unable to return to the US for fear of arrest, Snowden will be speaking to the summit via video link from Russia.

“As an ex CIA operative, we believe Edward has a unique perspective on how Ireland is being surveilled by other nation states. It is an honour and a major coups to have Edward speak to the Summit. We have come under intense pressure for inviting him to speak, which just serves to underline the importance of what he has to say.”

The conference will  feature a hackathon session by a globally renowned team of hackers from Hungary.