PANEL
Under Fire: Cybersecurity Lessons from Ukraine’s Digital Battlefield
DAY 1 / 16:15 – 17:15 / MAIN HALL
This panel will bring together experts to examine how digital infrastructure and cybersecurity shape the dynamics of modern warfare. The discussion will focus on practical strategies for protecting national digital systems, securing critical data, and maintaining operational resilience under pressure. Panellists will also analyse Russian cyber warfare tactics and their impact on the broader security landscape. While emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence will be considered, the emphasis will remain on strategic and policy-driven responses to digital threats in wartime.
Speaker
Antanas
Aleknavičius
Lithuania
Director, National Cyber Security Centre, Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania
Before becoming Director, Antanas Aleknavičius served as Deputy Director of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), where he was primarily responsible for cyber resilience enhancement projects and the coordination of cyber incident management. With extensive experience as a legal professional, he also played an active role in transposing the EU NIS2 Directive into national legislation and drafting its key implementing documents.
Prior to joining the NCSC, Mr. Aleknavičius spent more than a decade at the Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania, where he led the Cybersecurity and IT Policy Group and headed a division within the Legal Department responsible for cybersecurity- and IT-related legal matters.
Speaker
Greg
Rattray
United States of America
Executive Director of the Cyber Defense Assistance Collaborative
Greg Rattray is the Executive Director of the Cyber Defense Assistance Collaborative (CDAC), Partner and Co-Founder of Next Peak, and the Chief Strategy Officer for Andesite AI. Through the CDAC mission, he leads the team in improving and stabilizing the cyber defenses and critical infrastructure of foreign nations under exigent circumstances, such as those in Ukraine and Taiwan. Dr. Rattray is a retired US Air Force Colonel and a former Director for Cybersecurity in the White House. He pioneered the Department of Defense (DoD) and US national cyber exercise programs and established the concepts of the Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) and Operational Collaboration.
Greg Rattray has a B.S. degree from the U.S. Air Force USAF Academy, a M.P.P. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
Speaker
Charlie
S.
United Kingdom
Head of Cyber Assessment, National Cyber Security Centre
Speaker
Helen
Popp
Estonia
Cyber Ambassador, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Speaker
Ukraine
Kyrylo
Zaporozhets
Head of Division, The Administration of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection
With over 15 years at the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP), he has dedicated his career to developing the national cybersecurity system. Over the years, he has become a key expert shaping state policy in this field.
He played an active role in the process of implementing the NIS2 Directive provisions into Ukrainian legislation. This work laid a foundation for aligning Ukraine’s cybersecurity standards with those of the European Union.
He currently focuses on expanding international partnerships. He is responsible for establishing direct engagement with competent authorities of partner nations, including expertise-sharing, joint cyber incident response, and strengthening cybersecurity coalitions.
Moderator
Robert Potter
Co-founder, Internet 2.0
Robert Potter is the co-founder of Australian cyber security company Internet 2.0. He has been involved in assisting the Ukrainian cyber effort since the beginning of the war. And notably, he is doing so from inside Ukraine. He is an experienced cyber, national security and government executive having held several high-profile roles as a leader in the space.
These include leading the Australian Government’s cyber programs in the Pacific, being part of President Biden’s Counter Ransomware Initiative (one of 16 company executives selected globally and the only Australian), working as an expert for the United States Department of State and Global Affairs Canada as a leading expert in critical infrastructure security, sitting on the board of Ukraine’s Cyber Diia capacity building institution, leading BAE Systems Applied Intelligence cyber operations in APAC and working as the first head of cyber security at the Washington Post.