Cyber Threats, AI, and Concorde
On 19th September 2024, over 60 attendees joined us for our flagship September Summit event. The day built around the three things shaping every business right now: cyber security, the modern workplace, and AI.
We hosted the day at Bristol’s Aerospace Museum, beneath the last Concorde ever to fly. A fitting backdrop for a day spent looking at where technology is heading next.
A Morning of Cyber Security
The day opened with Alex Popham, Senior Security Specialist at Microsoft, presenting on the current state of cyber threats. A few numbers set the tone:
- If cybercrime were a national economy, it would be the third largest in the world — behind only the US and China
- The threat actors tracked by Microsoft rose over 50% in a single year, from 200 to more than 300
- Password attacks climbed tenfold over the same period, from 3 billion to 30 billion per month
Microsoft’s scale gives them a unique vantage point. 78 trillion synthesised signals analysed daily, and Alex walked through how Microsoft Defender for Endpoint uses that visibility to catch advanced attacks that slip past traditional defences.
Phil McGowan from Huntress followed with a look at endpoint threat detection in practice, identifying malicious behaviour, persistent footholds, and credential exposure. The most striking example: a man-in-the-middle attack that bypasses two-factor authentication entirely by stealing session tokens, tricking even careful users into handing over their 2FA codes. A reminder that 2FA alone isn’t the safety net many assume it to be.
Before lunch, our own Chris Pottrell took the room through the history of spam and cyber attacks — from the ILOVEYOU worm in 2000, through the 2016 DNC hack and WannaCry in 2017, to the SolarWinds breach in 2020. A useful reminder that today’s threats stand on the shoulders of a long, escalating history.
An Afternoon of Productivity
After lunch beneath Concorde itself, the focus shifted to what modern, secure productivity actually looks like.
The Modern Workplace conversation centred on enabling people to work securely from anywhere, on any device. The numbers were compelling. Businesses using Microsoft 365 well were seeing roughly one extra hour of productivity per employee per week, £700 in reduced travel costs per employee, and £23 a month in avoided technology costs per user.
Then came AI, and the stat that landed hardest:
It took mobile phones 16 years to reach 100 million users. The internet, seven. Facebook, four and a half. ChatGPT did it in three months.
The session demonstrated Microsoft Copilot building a full PowerPoint presentation, and pulling key takeaways from a long, messy Teams discussion. Not perfect, but capable of getting most jobs 80% of the way there, leaving the final 20% to human judgement.
Supporting Community of Purpose
The day closed with Amy Kington from Community of Purpose, our charity partner for 2024–2026. She shared the work of their Break Free project, which supports children with meals and activities during the school holidays.
A charity raffle ran throughout the day, with a Lego Concorde set as the prize. One lucky winner took it home, and the day closed with everyone free to explore the museum at their own pace.
If you’re looking for a charity to support or volunteer with, Community of Purpose is well worth a look.
Why We Run Days Like This
Events like this are part of how we follow through with our mission at Nebula: to fuel our community with intelligent technology solutions. Bringing together genuine expertise from Microsoft, Huntress, and our own team gives attendees a clearer, more rounded view of where technology is heading than any single session could offer alone.
Get in touch to hear about our next event →
Nebula IT is an NCSC Assured managed IT provider supporting SMEs, charities and regulated organisations across Bristol, the South West, and the UK.
