An immersive cybersecurity experience from IBM’s X-Force Command team, featuring a simulated and gamified environment, will set in motion the second International Cyber Risk Management Conference in Bermuda.

The simulation is said to be a “one-of-a-kind” session, and will be led by experts from IBM X-Force Command who are skilled in training organisations in crisis response, including top global banks, intelligence agencies and energy and technology companies.

“That’s a high energy part of the conference. It will put everyone in the right frame of mind, and hit the ground running,” Marilyn Horrick, chief operating officer and executive vice-president, MSA Research Inc, said.

MSA Research is the parent of the conference organisation, and has held five cyber-risk management conferences in Canada, together with last year’s ICRMC event in Bermuda. This year’s three-day event starts on December 4.

IBM Security’s Chris Crummy, executive director of X-Force Command, and Kurt Rohrbacker, North American lead, IBM X-Force IRIS, will lead the cyber simulation afternoon event on the first day of the conference. They will also give a round-up of key highlights from the simulation the following day.

The event takes place at the Hamilton Princess and Beach Club, and another session likely to attract a lot of attention is called “Case studies that will keep you up at night”. The panel will discuss cyberthreat case studies from elaborate human engineering schemes to negligence and the impact on reputations. They will also consider technological and governance lessons learnt.

Ms Horrick said that because of the nature of cybersecurity the case studies to be discussed could change between now and next month.

“Cyber can be different four weeks from now simply because there could be a big breach,” she said, adding there is a diverse cross-section of speakers on the panel. One is Rachel Anne Carter, who is director (cyber) for the Geneva Association, an international think tank of the insurance industry.

“Dr Carter’s role is strictly around cyber, so her entire portfolio has everything to do with cyber. This year the Geneva Association has given her three separate mandates on cyber, one of them specifically targeting a depository of cyber breaches and events that have happened, which the Geneva Association is then going to publish to the world and create this depository that everyone is going to be able to use.”

Applying blockchain to the insurance world to transform the supply chain and improve cybersecurity, will be highlighted in a session called “The InsurWave Story”. This will be a discussion on the first marine insurance blockchain platform. Kerr Kennedy, associate partner, EY, and Ian Meadows, associate partner, speciality technology and board director, InsurWave, EY are the speakers.

Ms Horrick said: “I’m excited by the InsurWave story. EY will talk about this blockchain solution that they have developed for risk, in partnership with the other companies profiled here.”

The final day of the conference includes two sessions that will have particular interest and resonance for Bermuda.

One is a panel on the promises and challenges of fintech and banking. It will feature the aforementioned Dr Carter, along with Chris Garrod, director, Conyers Dill & Pearman; Stuart Lacey, founder and director of Bermudian-based Trunomi; and Denis Pitcher, chief fintech adviser to the Premier and the Fintech Business Unit.

That session will be followed by a panel discussion on deploying cyber capital in Bermuda. Among the speakers will be Dan Trueman, global head of cyber and technology, Axis Capital; Christopher Schaper, CEO of AIG Re; Alan Frith, assistant vice-president, consulting and client services, AIR Worldwide; and George Alayon, assistant director, supervision (insurance), Bermuda Monetary Authority.

Ms Horrick said the conference has grown since its debut last year.

“It has greater interest from a speaking standpoint. You know you have a successful conference when you have potential speakers coming out of the woodwork.

“We are getting really strong talent from within cyber space to help moderate and drive some of these good topics that we have.”

For more information and to register, visit https://bermuda.icrmc.com/