Doors open at 10am with coffee and pastries. Talks start at 10:30am. Use the agenda below to choose the sessions that intrigue you the most. In between, browse our vendor stands, connect in the networking spaces, or join a pre-booked VIP cider tour. If you need a quiet moment, the Chill Out Space is always open.
A full programme of talks, circus entertainment and conversation.
The day begins with registration, coffee and pastries from 10am, followed by an opening talk from Fortem IT and CyNam at 10:30.
Talk highlights include The Current State of Ransomware at 12:22, Cyber Beyond the Cyber Team at 14:20, Nobody Approved This: The Rise of Shadow AI and IT in Supply Chain at 16:35, and The Secret Ingredient in Robotics at 17:00. Asteria's Playground kicks off the evening with a circus from 17:15, then a food break, before Jamie Bartlett takes the stage at 18:50.
There are plenty of spaces to relax, connect and refuel throughout the day.
Explore our line-up of talks designed to deliver actionable insights, spark innovation, and help you navigate the future of technology. Each presentation brings key perspectives from industry leaders on today’s most critical tech trends. Click on any speaker’s name to read a short summary of their background.
Step away from the main stage for something a little different.
Our VIP Cider Tasting Networking Tours are small, sponsor hosted groups of guests, taken behind the scenes at Dunkertons.
You'll each be invited to introduce yourselves before hearing the story of the estate and how the cider is made, from bud to bottle.
The tour takes approximately 30-minutes.
The tour is free of charge.
We're delighted to introduce our Headline Hosts, Alice Violet and Charlie Kelly.
Alice leads marketing and communications across cyber and tech via her business Violet and Partners, Charlie works at the sharp end of detection and incident response.
Alice Violet is the founder of Alice Violet Creative, a marketing consultancy for cyber and tech scale-ups. She is a strategist, fractional marketing lead, host of the Cyber Made Human podcast and CyNam's Creative Partner. A regular speaker and event host across the UK cyber sector, she is co-host and event producer of CyberFest 2026.
Charlie is a Principal Analyst at Stripe OLT, where he focuses on detection engineering, incident response, and building practical SOC capability. He also serves as the Committee Director for BSides Cheltenham, supporting the UK cyber community through an inclusive, practitioner-led event.
Author of five books, including Sunday Times bestseller How to Talk to AI (2026).
Creator of The Missing Cryptoqueen, which exposed the biggest cryptocurrency scandal in history.
For the last twenty years, Mark has worked with leading global cyber security companies, investigating emerging threats and explaining how they reshape risk. Mark's unique blend of technical expertise and humour has seen him speak at conferences and industry events across Europe and the USA, and his insights are regulaly featured in major publications like The New York Times, Forbes, Popular Science, and WIRED.
To re-energise and delight before the evening kicks off, we have invited Bristol based circus performers Asteria's Playground. Catch their on-stage show at 17:15, then look out for roaming performers through the food break from 17:45.
Paul Cawley is a Senior Partner Development Manager within Microsoft’s Global Channel Partner Sales organisation. With more than 30 years’ experience across HP, Symantec and Microsoft, he has built a career developing strategic relationships with major technology partners across the UK. Paul also leads Microsoft’s UK Data Centre Optimisation programme, working with hosting providers, data centre operators and systems integrators to help customers transition from on-premises and hosted infrastructure to the cloud. He combines extensive global experience with a practical understanding of partner priorities, commercial collaboration and delivering measurable business outcomes.
With over 18 years of experience in the IT industry, Lee is a Solutions Director at Fortem IT, a leading provider of innovative and disruptive solutions that empower businesses.
With a diverse background spanning global financial markets, cyber security, and emerging technologies, Hollie champions the power of collective ambition to address some of society’s most complex challenges.
Juan is a Channel Account Manager at Auvik with extensive experience helping managed service providers and IT teams address today’s most pressing operational challenges.
Brian has 30 years of experience in the test profession, working with safety critical systems such as Heart Lung bypass equipment to Air Traffic Control. The past 15 years has been in Security and Cyber.
Founder of Inclusive Change and DECID:R, Lucy blends international law enforcement experience with neuro-inclusive leadership. She provides evidence-based tools to challenge conventional thinking on workplace resilience, transformation, and organisational culture.
International speaker, DECID:R co-founder, and cyber security leader, Jemma translates complex security and resilience concepts into actionable insights. She focuses on human-centric security, empowering leaders to communicate, decide, and perform under pressure.
With 12 years of experience in backup, security and networking, David Johnson is passionate about helping organisations prepare for today's cyber threats. He brings practical insight, real-world experience and an engaging speaking style to discussions around data protection, resilience and the "Assume Breach" approach to security
Ant Wells is a Senior Solutions Engineer at Arctic Wolf, specialising in Security Operations. With a background in protecting businesses from evolving cyber threats, Ant helps organizations strengthen their security posture. His role involves working closely with clients to understand their specific security challenges and providing tailored solutions around Arctic Wolf’s cutting-edge solutions.
Burke Stephenson is a cyber security and technology sales leader with more than 30 years’ experience across the IT industry, including enterprise technology, cyber security and government and military environments. As Lenovo’s EMEA Cyber security Sales Leader, he has built and led the region’s cyber security business, developing strategies that integrate specialist cyber security capabilities with enterprise hardware and technology.
Chris Graham has spent more than 20 years in cyber security, doing everything from running global enterprise messaging estates to designing security architectures for some of the world's largest organisations. He has built and led international teams delivering security programmes across hundreds of enterprise deployments, and knows first-hand why so many organisations struggle with certificate monitoring within their digital infrastructure.
Systems change leader specialising in the equitable redistribution of resources, power, and opportunity to global majority communities, through the advancement of ethical governance frameworks, sustainable finance mechanism, and digitally enabled civic participation.
Experienced Information Communication Technology leader with a demonstrative history of delivering success in the public safety and public services arenas. Skilled in ICT Service design and delivery, the creation and implementation of Digital, Cyber and ICT strategies. Passionate about digital transformation, smart business process design and implementation. Strong analytical capability to ensure positive outcomes in digital transformation for public sector organisations.
Stefan-Catalin Vasile is an Enterprise Account Executive and Territory Manager at Acronis, with over 12 years of experience in technology sales and business development. He specialises in building strategic relationships and helping organisations address evolving cybersecurity, backup and disaster recovery challenges. Stefan works closely with customers and partners to strengthen cyber resilience, protect critical data and support their wider digital transformation journeys.
Bruno Kocsis is a cybersecurity business leader focused on turning complex technology into real-world business outcomes. At Acronis, he works at the intersection of cyber protection, operational technology and go-to-market strategy, helping organizations protect the systems they simply cannot afford to lose.
Known for a direct, pragmatic approach, Bruno believes cybersecurity conversations should spend less time on buzzwords and more time on what happens when things actually go wrong. His work brings together technology, partners and customers to solve one deceptively simple challenge: keeping critical operations running when disruption is not an option.
When he’s not talking about cyber resilience, Bruno is usually challenging conventional thinking - or at least trying to make cybersecurity slightly less boring.
All attendees who check into CyberFest will be given one raffle ticket with the chance to win a variety of incredible prizes such as:
Robot from Ohbot
A Lego vintage Jaguar car
Aire Ancient Baths Experience for Two
Champagne dinner for two at Mirari Cheltenham
Dunkertons Park Hamper
Afternoon tea for two at Ellenborough Park
Daylesford Organic Hamper
One night stay and wine tasting at the Three Choirs Vineyard
A DJI Drone
an Apple iPad
+ lots more!
Throughout the day, the more you get involved in activities, the more raffle tickets you’ll get. But you have to be at the venue when your ticket is called out to claim your prize!
Prizes will be announced on the Main Stage throughout the day!
We're proud to announce Microsoft as the Principal Sponsor for CyberFest 2026!
There are many more sponsors for CyberFest 2026. Click their logo below to view more information about them.
The South West cyber community's much-anticipated annual festival returns to the heart of the Cotswolds.
Bruno Kocsis is a cybersecurity business leader focused on turning complex technology into real-world business outcomes. At Acronis, he works at the intersection of cyber protection, operational technology and go-to-market strategy, helping organizations protect the systems they simply cannot afford to lose.
Known for a direct, pragmatic approach, Bruno believes cybersecurity conversations should spend less time on buzzwords and more time on what happens when things actually go wrong. His work brings together technology, partners and customers to solve one deceptively simple challenge: keeping critical operations running when disruption is not an option.
When he’s not talking about cyber resilience, Bruno is usually challenging conventional thinking - or at least trying to make cybersecurity slightly less boring.
Stefan-Catalin Vasile is an Enterprise Account Executive and Territory Manager at Acronis, with over 12 years of experience in technology sales and business development. He specialises in building strategic relationships and helping organisations address evolving cybersecurity, backup and disaster recovery challenges. Stefan works closely with customers and partners to strengthen cyber resilience, protect critical data and support their wider digital transformation journeys.
For the last twenty years, Mark has worked with leading global cyber security companies, investigating emerging threats and explaining how they reshape risk. Mark's unique blend of technical expertise and humour has seen him speak at conferences and industry events across Europe and the USA, and his insights are regulaly featured in major publications like The New York Times, Forbes, Popular Science, and WIRED.
Experienced Information Communication Technology leader with a demonstrative history of delivering success in the public safety and public services arenas. Skilled in ICT Service design and delivery, the creation and implementation of Digital, Cyber and ICT strategies. Passionate about digital transformation, smart business process design and implementation. Strong analytical capability to ensure positive outcomes in digital transformation for public sector organisations.
Paul Cawley is a Senior Partner Development Manager within Microsoft’s Global Channel Partner Sales organisation. With more than 30 years’ experience across HP, Symantec and Microsoft, he has built a career developing strategic relationships with major technology partners across the UK. Paul also leads Microsoft’s UK Data Centre Optimisation programme, working with hosting providers, data centre operators and systems integrators to help customers transition from on-premises and hosted infrastructure to the cloud. He combines extensive global experience with a practical understanding of partner priorities, commercial collaboration and delivering measurable business outcomes.
Systems change leader specialising in the equitable redistribution of resources, power, and opportunity to global majority communities, through the advancement of ethical governance frameworks, sustainable finance mechanism, and digitally enabled civic participation.
Chris Graham has spent more than 20 years in cyber security, doing everything from running global enterprise messaging estates to designing security architectures for some of the world's largest organisations. He has built and led international teams delivering security programmes across hundreds of enterprise deployments, and knows first-hand why so many organisations struggle with certificate monitoring within their digital infrastructure.
Burke Stephenson is a cyber security and technology sales leader with more than 30 years’ experience across the IT industry, including enterprise technology, cyber security and government and military environments. As Lenovo’s EMEA Cyber security Sales Leader, he has built and led the region’s cyber security business, developing strategies that integrate specialist cyber security capabilities with enterprise hardware and technology.
Ant Wells is a Senior Solutions Engineer at Arctic Wolf, specialising in Security Operations. With a background in protecting businesses from evolving cyber threats, Ant helps organizations strengthen their security posture. His role involves working closely with clients to understand their specific security challenges and providing tailored solutions around Arctic Wolf’s cutting-edge solutions.
With 12 years of experience in backup, security and networking, David Johnson is passionate about helping organisations prepare for today's cyber threats. He brings practical insight, real-world experience and an engaging speaking style to discussions around data protection, resilience and the "Assume Breach" approach to security
International speaker, DECID:R co-founder, and cyber security leader, Jemma translates complex security and resilience concepts into actionable insights. She focuses on human-centric security, empowering leaders to communicate, decide, and perform under pressure.
Founder of Inclusive Change and DECID:R, Lucy blends international law enforcement experience with neuro-inclusive leadership. She provides evidence-based tools to challenge conventional thinking on workplace resilience, transformation, and organisational culture.
Brian has 30 years of experience in the test profession, working with safety critical systems such as Heart Lung bypass equipment to Air Traffic Control. The past 15 years has been in Security and Cyber.
With a diverse background spanning global financial markets, cyber security, and emerging technologies, Hollie champions the power of collective ambition to address some of society’s most complex challenges.
Juan is a Channel Account Manager at Auvik with extensive experience helping managed service providers and IT teams address today’s most pressing operational challenges.
With over 18 years of experience in the IT industry, Lee is a Solutions Director at Fortem IT, a leading provider of innovative and disruptive solutions that empower businesses.
Get involved in things such as our free VIP cider tours, visit our vendor stands, enjoy our networking spaces, ask a question during talks, and more!
To re-energise and delight before the evening kicks off, we have invited Bristol based circus performers Asteria's Playground. Catch their on-stage show at 17:15, then look out for roaming performers through the food break from 17:45.
Author of five books, including Sunday Times bestseller How to Talk to AI (2026).
Creator of The Missing Cryptoqueen, which exposed the biggest cryptocurrency scandal in history.
