When Cyber meets Service: strengthening ITSM against modern threats

09.00 – Registration opens
09.45 – Event opening 
10.00 – Presentation 1: The Breach – interactive simulation (Mike Wager, The Cyber Escape Room Co.)
10.35 – Break
10.55 – Presentation 2: When Pressure Hits, We All Lead – Building a Crisis-Ready Culture (Valerie Wilson, BT)
11.25 – Presentation 3: Cybersecurity within The Salvation Army – Key Insights and Strategic Initiatives (Neil Edmonds & Kuheli Roy Sarkar, The Salvation Army UK)
12.00 – Lunch
13.00 – Presentation 4: The BGS journey to Cyber Essentials Plus certification (Andy Townend & James McCaugherty, The British Geological Survey)
13.30 – Presentation 5: Packing Your Go-Bag – What really matters when your services are on fire (Michaela Kurkiewicz, Co-op)
14.00 – Break
14.15 – Presentation 6: When Service meets security – How modern ITSM becomes the front line of cyber resilience (Richard McNeill, Ivanti)
14.45 – Presenter panel session
15.15 – End of day networking & museum tour
16.00 – Event close 

A ransomware attack has locked down your organisation’s systems — and the hackers are playing games. Literally. They claim they only needed one set of stolen credentials to get in. Now, they’ve given you five suspects, five possible methods of compromise, and five locations it could’ve happened. If your team can crack the case and identify the right combination, they’ll hand over the decryption key. Get it wrong? Game over.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Was it the CEO in the hotel lobby leaving her laptop unattended (again..)?! Was it the marketing manager oversharing on social media?!The IT guy? The CEO’s Assistant? The facilities manager? In this escape room, you’ll investigate suspicious activity using IT logs, phone records, and internal emails, piecing together the trail of a cunning hacker. Along the way, you’ll unlock physical boxes, unearth red herrings, and collaborate to eliminate suspects. Expect fake intranet sites, interactive phone calls, and some very dodgy digital footprints. It’s hands-on, fast-paced, and full of twists — everything you need to uncover who slipped up, how it happened, and where the breach began.

In today’s hyper-connected world, crises no longer unfold slowly or predictably. Cyber attacks, data breaches, and operational shocks can escalate within minutes, demanding immediate, confident, and coordinated action. In this environment, the ability to lead under pressure has become one of the today’s top skills employers demand.

But effective crisis response is not just the responsibility of executives or crisis managers — it depends on leadership being embedded throughout the organisation. When pressure hits, every individual has a role to play in maintaining stability, protecting customer trust, and helping the organisation recover stronger than before.

This session explores what it truly means to build a crisis-ready culture, where people at all levels are equipped and empowered to step up when it matters most. It delves into the mindsets and behaviours that enable teams to stay calm, think clearly, and collaborate effectively during moments of uncertainty.

Through a lens shaped by the challenges of today’s cyber landscape, this talk will inspire you to see leadership not as a title, but as an action — one that every person in the room can take when the stakes are high.

Valerie Wilson is Service Operations Director at BT, leading over 1,000 people across global locations. A former reserve Army Captain with operational experience in Iraq, she brings resilience and purpose-driven leadership to her role. Over her 24-year career at BT, Valerie has been instrumental in establishing the company’s Cyber Security Operations Centre in Belfast, defending against more than 6,500 cyber attacks daily. Her expertise spans the front line operation including major incident management — coordinating high-impact, urgent disruptions to critical services and embedding readiness across teams. She is passionate about developing future leaders, advancing women in technology, and helping veterans transition into meaningful tech careers. Valerie also serves as a Non-Executive Director of itSMF UK and chairs Women in ITSM across the UK.

In late May 2021, The Salvation Army faced a cybersecurity breach due to a ransomware attack. In response, they quickly launched independent assessments, applied technical solutions, provided staff training, and strengthened governance practices. These actions have significantly enhanced their ability to defend against cyber threats, safeguarding both their mission and the people they serve.

This presentation will summarise the incident and detail the response strategies that enabled The Salvation Army to recover and emerge stronger. It will also demonstrate how implementing strong security measures, encouraging collaboration across departments, and fostering continuous improvement have better prepared the organisation to tackle future challenges and maintain resilience.

Neil Edmonds is an experienced IT leader with over 20 years in the not-for-profit sector. Currently serving as Head of IT Infrastructure for The Salvation Army UK and Ireland, Neil oversees the organisation’s technology systems, ensuring they are secure, reliable, and scalable to support its mission. His career began in the late 1990s, progressing through technical and leadership roles thanks to his expertise in network architecture, systems management, and IT operations. Neil has led major initiatives such as infrastructure modernisation and co-managed data center implementation, improving resilience, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. Recognised for aligning IT strategies with business goals, Neil is committed to leveraging technology for positive impact. His leadership continues to drive digital transformation and operational excellence within The Salvation Army.

Kuheli Roy Sarkar is an accomplished Information Security leader with more than ten years of industry experience. She has overseen cybersecurity strategies for The Salvation Army, focusing on cloud security, vulnerability management, threat analysis, governance, risk management, and incident response. Kuheli designs security programs that are closely aligned with organisational goals and works collaboratively with cross-functional teams to enhance overall security posture. She has successfully led initiatives to minimise attack surfaces and advance enterprise detection capabilities. Her dedication to best practices is demonstrated through her leadership in achieving ISO 27001 certification and ensuring compliance with standards such as NIST, CIS, and GDPR, including the successful management of ISO 27001 Certification for specific departments like IT. Kuheli’s technical acumen and strategic insight enable the organisation to proactively address cyber threats. Her published work on data security and insider threats, along with her efforts to foster a culture of security awareness, empower teams to stay alert and adaptive within a continually changing threat environment.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a world-leading geological survey and global geoscience organisation, focused on public-good science for government and research to understand earth and environmental processes. We are the UK’s premier provider of objective and authoritative geoscientific data, information and knowledge to help society to use its natural resources responsibly, manage environmental change and be resilient to environmental hazards.

The BGS mission is use our knowledge of geology to address societal challenges. We generate data, information and expertise through observation, analysis and characterisation of the Earth and its geological processes. We work at local, regional, national and global scales, and monitor at multiple temporal scales, from real-time to multi-decadal. We are independent and impartial.

Ensuring the integrity and security of our data and information is critical to our success. The journey to Cyber Essentials Plus certification had it’s many challenges across technology, people and process. The presentation will document the journey and will touch on the quick wins and top tips learned along the way.

Andy Townend is the BGS Head of IT & Security. Andy has over 30 years’ experience working in IT for the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and has been in the role at BGS for 5 years. Andy’s background is programming and project management, with a strong focus on senior leadership and technology management over the last 10 years.

James McCaugherty is the BGS Information Security Officer. James has 21 years’ experience working in IT for the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) with over 8 years of experience in Information Security and Compliance for BGS. James has successfully led multiple Cyber Essentials Plus certification programmes for BGS, guiding the organisation through the entire lifecycle, from initial gap analysis and remediation planning to external audit and certification. James’s hands-on leadership has strengthened technical controls, improved incident response capabilities, and enhanced stakeholder confidence in the IT Security posture. James ensures that compliance efforts deliver measurable value aligned to long-term business and operational goals.

As cyberattacks grow in speed, automation, and sophistication, IT Service Management (ITSM) has become a critical operational control point in an organisation’s cyber‑resilience strategy. Modern platforms such as Ivanti Neurons now provide authoritative, real‑time asset intelligence combined with automated vulnerability detection, prioritisation, and remediation. These capabilities significantly reduce the mean time to identify and respond (MTTI/MTTR) by enabling compatibility checks, dependency mapping, and proactive mitigation without the overhead of manual troubleshooting.

This integration of ITSM and security operations strengthens the organisation’s ability to contain and respond to threats by correlating service, asset, and vulnerability data within a unified workflow. For Service Desk Managers, this means faster and more accurate incident triage, earlier detection of anomalous behaviour, and improved root‑cause analysis across interconnected systems. It also directly enhances governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) activities—particularly within Change Enablement—by ensuring changes are assessed against verified, risk‑based insights.

With automated workflows reducing noise and operational redundancy, IT teams gain the efficiency required to maintain service continuity in high‑pressure environments. The result is a security‑aware service organisation capable of anticipating threats, minimising attack surface, and delivering a more resilient, transparent, and reliable user experience. As highlighted by the Cyber in ITSM 2026 programme, this convergence marks the evolution of ITSM into a strategic player in an organisation’s defensive architecture.

Richard McNeill is a seasoned ITSM service delivery expert with more than two decades of experience helping enterprise organisations enhance operational resilience, secure their IT environments, and modernise end‑to‑end service and asset management.  Richard brings a pragmatic, real‑world perspective on how organisations can effectively leverage technology to drive measurable improvements.