CYBERSPACE: OF STARBURSTS, BLACK HOLES, AND LAST FRONTIERS 

The environment defining tech has barely retained its footing amidst widespread and involuntary realignment and seems destined to continue roiling under a systemic barrage of disruptions. Cyberspace and cybersecurity are no strangers to innovation, adaptation, and great agility in an arena synonymous with advancement and progress over the last half century. Although cliched, the bare fact is that the pace of change over the last year is truly unprecedented, and seemingly a herald of a new normal.

There can be 3 broad categories from which these changes can be examined, namely –

1) within pureplay cybersecurity

2) cybersecurity and the interplay with adjacent tech, notably AI, and

3) the social and real-world environment within which tech resides and serves.

An added challenge is the interplay between these ecosystems is itself a complex and shifting dynamic.

GovWare 2025 will attempt to frame a conversation on topical issues given the above, with a thematic nod to the historical narrative of the primacy of science and the unknowns that science dissects and yet is limited by. The focus will remain on a cybersecurity core, with appropriate segues into the policy orientation of other discussions at the Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW).

The imagery of cyber and deep space is framed by the spectacular and spectacularly constant impact of explosive progress in AI and its associated effects on security, the perils and downsides of implosions and loss of control, and the reality of frontiers being just artificial structures or limits defined by current understanding and appetite for risk.

FOCUS AREAS

All submissions must indicate at least one of the topics from the Focus Areas below:

Pureplay Cybersecurity

• A Relook of Identity and Data as Key Underpinnings of Cybersecurity
• Agentic AI and Securing AI
• Zero Trust as Applied to the Converged AI / Digital Trust Landscape
• Cloud Native Security / Cloud-Enabled Cybersecurity
• Cyber Threat Landscape & Intelligence
• Cybersecurity Ops Centre: Methodologies & Operations
• Darkweb, Cybercrime, Cyberwarfare
• Endpoint Security / Mobile Security / Network Security
• Incident Response, Investigations, Forensics, and Recovery in IT and OT Environments
• Cybersecurity in OT Environments: Threats, Intelligence and Automation
• Security by Design: Risk Assessment, Avoidance and Mitigation
• Cybersecurity Risk Management / Risk-based Frameworks

Cybersecurity and the Interplay with Adjacent Tech

• Data Security and the DPSM Matrix
• Sec Ops and Cloud Native Convergence
• Differentiation and Overlaps in AI and Cybersecurity Visibility
• Governance and Assurance in AI
• Quantum Computing and its Impact on Trust and Security Infrastructure
• Recent Developments in ML / AI Engines
• Privacy, Trust, and Compliance in the Digital Economy
• Cybersecurity and Digital Transformation
• Distributed Security in General and IoT Environments / Internet of Things
• Cybersecurity and IT Resilience: Bridging Protection with Recovery
• Tech Convergence for Cyber Defence: AI, Quantum, and the Human Factor
• Cybersecurity in the Age of Industry 5.0
• Navigating the Quantum Shift: Preparing for a Post-Quantum Era

Social and Real-World Environment

• Consolidation in the Cybersecurity Market and the Ecosystem VS Best of Breed Approach
• Geopolitics and the Weaponisation of Critical Infrastructure
• Concepts of Trust and the Spillover of General Ecosystem Dynamics into Cyber Specific Supply Chains
• Re-charting the CISO and Head of Security Footprint
• Customer Protection by Design – Perspectives from Regulatory and Technical Engineering Viewpoint
• People, Partnerships and Culture: Building a Sustainable Cybersecurity Ecosystem
• Cybersecurity in Developing Economies and Underserved Communities

For a more detailed guide on key focus areas, please click here.