Ian Murphy
Ian Murphy is a cybersecurity expert, stand up comedian, and speaker who provides engaging and entertaining talks on the cyber world (for the tech-savvy and non tech-savvy)
Hailing from Liverpool, after his failed attempt to become a professional footballer Ian fell into security with a career that started in the early ’90s at the Ministry of Defence. He staggered drunkenly into the dot com bubble before worming his way into vendor land and a career in pre-sales and product management.
Before long he felt the pull of entrepreneurship and for the past 16 years, he has worked in many different industries and in many different security roles.
His latest venture, CyberOff, breathes life into cyber security training. By creating unforgettable videos that help the non-tech savvy stay safe online by increasing their cyber smarts.
More recently Ian Murphy has ventured into the fearsome world of stand-up and is enjoying making people laugh with his brand of humour that draws from many of his early childhood comedy heroes such as Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper, and Billy Connolly.
SPEAKING TOPICS
Ian Murphy’s three main presentations that he is often asked to speak on are –
Are we stupid or what? – In this speech, Ian dives into the propensity for humans to be blamed for all security issues and uncovers the anthropological history of why we are destined to fail and also what we can do about it and why humour works in these efforts. Ian addresses topics such as “humans are the weakest link” “common sense isn’t a universal constant” and “why current approaches to raise awareness fails to hit the spot”.
The logs don’t work they just make it worse – In this speech, Ian focuses on the clamour to collect more and more data, and whilst this really only serves the companies selling you log storage devices or security correlation nonsense. It exposes some fundamental truths of a life online and why catching the “needle in a haystack” type of attacker only really happens in movies. It also discusses why crime is big business online and also why the dark web was an invention of the US Navy to protect operatives abroad.
Do you really want to hurt me? – This is a fun look at the NSFW (Not Safe For Work) tag that some use to mask real engagement and why we do our colleagues a disservice by not treating them as adults. It also looks briefly at cancel culture and why being “offended” should always be met with a “so what?” response. It’s a light-hearted look at why humour divides opinions in the security world and also why using humour to educate is a more powerful tool than fear.
Ian Murphy is can also deliver stand-up spots including his 3 P’s in security, People, Passwords, and Phishing.
In all the talks above Ian deals with biases that inhibit our growth, protect us from harm and make us feel we are better than average when in reality this is rarely the case.
