Crisis Management in the Age of Ransomware (21st September 2021)

So you’ve been hacked! Who’re you gonna call?

We are losing the war against cyber criminals, so it’s when not if you are hacked or for many, hacked again.

When you are burgled, the first two calls that you make are to the authorities (the police) and to your insurance company, but what about when you’re hacked?

People assume that if your privacy is compromised GDPR means that the authorities will take action. Don’t be so sure.

They also assume that cyber insurance works much like home and motor insurance and will cover all the costs when you’re hacked. Again, don’t be so sure.

And they also assume that the crisis management approach that you’d take for other crises, like fires or floods, will work with a cyber incident. Again NO!

Collectively we aren’t good at dealing with risk. We failed to appreciate credit risk ahead of the global financial crisis or health risk ahead of the pandemic.

The fastest-growing risk now is cybercrime and not only do most of us not appreciate the risks here, but we don’t have any idea of how to respond.

Organisations believing that ‘it’ll never happen to us’ or that ‘we’d probably be fine’, and that includes most of us, are in for a very nasty surprise!

About our speaker: Bill Mew, CEO The Crisis Team

As an entrepreneur, Bill is the CEO of the Crisis Team, an elite group of cyber incident specialists that supports clients when they have cyber incidents. While most incident response firms focus on just the technical issues, they also cover the legal, reputational and social ones as well. Formerly the global Comms. head for IBM Financial Services Sector, Big Blue’s largest and most profitable division, Bill led its crisis response to numerous incidents, even steering it through the financial crisis of 2008, when IBM’s banking customers were in real distress.

As a digital ethics campaigner, Bill focuses on striking the right balance between ‘meaningful protection’ (cybersecurity, privacy, digital ethics, etc) and ‘the maximization of economic and social value’ (AI, cloud, digital transformation, innovation, etc). He has collaborated on some of the largest privacy campaigns (such as the Schrems II case in the EU High Court that overturned Privacy Shield – the EU/US data-sharing treaty) and is an expert advisor to a number of law firms that are bringing large privacy cases in the UK

And as an opinion leader, Bill appears almost weekly on TV and Radio (BBC, RT, etc) commenting on a range of business and technology stories – more broadcast airtime than any other technologist in the UK. He also writes regularly for business, finance and technical publications and is a frequent public speaker, appearing on panels at Infosec Europe, Blackhat Europe, PrivSec Global and Think Cybersecurity for Government as well as chairing the whole of Cloud World Forum. He will soon be speaking at Digital Transformation Expo. Bill has also been named as the world’s top expert/influencer for data privacy and security in Onalytica’s 2021 “Who’s Who in Data Management”, and is ranked highly for cloud insights (Global Data listed him in the global cloud top ten while Onalytica had him at 35th for cloud – 2nd in EMEA).


AI & The Future of Business (15th June 2021)

 Our first In Real Life Real Time Club Event for more than a year!

There’s no doubt that technology has changed and disrupted how organisations operate forever; and there’s so much more to come, particularly with the uptake of Artificial Intelligence into business.

In this evening’s IRL RTC event our speaker, Dr Daniel Hulme, will cover the relationship between Digital Transformation, Digital Twins, Automation and Artificial Intelligence.

He’ll explore how these emerging technologies will impact business and society in the short medium and long term, bringing the future to us faster than ever before. Just how fast can fast companies become?

Join us to hear from Dr Daniel Hulme, AI expert, to hear the future before it’s happened and to ask very difficult questions about our AI-driven world and what we need to do to ensure our businesses have a future, and a future driven by AI

About our speaker: Dr Daniel Hulme, Satalia Ltd 

Daniel Hulme is a leading expert in Artificial Intelligence and emerging technologies, and is the CEO of Satalia. Satalia is an award-winning company that provides AI products and solutions for global companies such as Tesco and PwC. Satalia’s mission is to create a world where everyone is free to innovate and that those innovations become free for everyone. Having received a Masters and Doctorate in AI at UCL, Daniel is also UCL’s Computer Science Entrepreneur in Residence and a lecturer at LSE’s Marshall Institute, focused on using AI to solve business and social problems. Passionate about how technology can be used to govern organisations and bring positive social impact, Daniel is a popular keynote speaker specialising in the topics of AI, ethics, technology, innovation, decentralization and organisational design.

He is a serial speaker for Google and TEDx, holds an international Kauffman Global Entrepreneur Scholarship, and is a faculty member of Singularity University. Daniel is a contributor to numerous books, podcasts and articles on AI and the future of work. His mission is to create a world where everyone has the freedom to spawn and contribute to innovations, and have those innovations become free to everyone.

He has advisory and executive positions across companies and governments, and actively promotes purposeful entrepreneurship and technology innovation across the globe.

“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely fool proof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” – Douglas Adams

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Looking forward to seeing you at our first IRL event in more than a year! Here’s to learning more and an inspiring evening of new information to pique our curiosity, robust debate, and enthralling conversations.

All good wishes,

Dr John L Collins

Chair, Real Time Club


LearnTech: AI for Personalised Education (24th February 2021)

Exploring ways in which data science, artificial intelligence & machine learning can help personalise and improve learning experiences

About this Event

At this event, our speakers will explore the various ways in which data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning can help personalise and improve learning experiences for individuals. Presentations will be followed by Q&A and discussion.

Speakers include:

Rose Luckin – Professor of Learner Centred Design at UCL Knowledge Lab

Lasse Rouhiainen – International Keynote Speaker on Artificial Intelligence | Board Member @ Roybi and 1MillionBot

Maury Shenk – Co-Founder & CEO at LearnerShape

More about the LearnTech meetup group

Reinventing learning for the new normal.

We are a group of entrepreneurs, data scientists, technologists and other enthusiasts whose vision is to improve lifetime learning and learning at work, at a time of constant change. We believe in the power of intelligent technologies such as machine learning and data science, while insisting that solutions must serve human needs.

Our events will be about technologies, trends and solutions, with opportunities to learn from experts, and to network and build community with others working towards the same goals.


Cyber Security 2021, with the Chief Scientist of McAfee, Raj Samani (11th February 2021)

We are delighted to welcome to the Real Time Club Raj Samani, Chief Scientist and McAfee Fellow for cybersecurity firm McAfee; Raj will be sharing with us his view of the latest threats, some solutions and what they actually mean to all of us in 2021.

Raj’s impressive set of rewards for making us safer online include the Infosecurity Europe hall of Fame, Peter Szor award, and Intel Achievement Award; he has a long list of publications including co-authoring the books “Applied Cyber Security and the Smart Grid” and the “CSA Guide to Cloud Computing” and serving as technical editor of numerous other publications.

Raj has assisted multiple law enforcement agencies in cybercrime cases and is special advisor to the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) in The Hague.


“You Lead”: Minter Dial in Conversation (7th January 2021)

In his latest book, You Lead, Minter Dial draws out a cogent path for leaders like yourself to evolve by allowing if not exhorting you to lean in on your personal values, develop a greater self-awareness and make sure that what you do matters, for you and those around you, including your circle of Most Valuable People (MVPs).

It’s a personal journey that Minter leads you on, filled with stories and missteps from which to learn. Minter loves music and leads by example in talking about how his own personal passions contributed to developing his personality, impacting his sense of self and informing his leadership style. As I like to say, you can only grow and scale your business as fast as you grow and scale yourself.

Minter’s a joy to listen to – come join us to hear more at the first – of many – Real Time Club events of 2021.

Here’s a link to the foreword and preface to Minter’s new book ‘You Lead’.

And here is the link for the first chapter! No subscription needed, just enter your name and email etc. (with an unsubscribe option any time thereafter)


Crime dot Com: From Viruses to Vote Rigging, How Hacking Went Global (28th July 2020)

Online via Zoom

Geoff White will reveal tech’s impact on our lives: crime dot com – examples include the controversial police use of facial recognition; the failure of artificial intelligence therapy apps; hi-tech call centre scams that have cost victims their lives’ savings; fraud in the internet dating industry.

As an investigative journalist Geoff White has covered technology for BBC News, Channel 4 News, Audible, The Sunday Times and many others.

His book on cybercrime, “Crime Dot Com: From Viruses To Vote Rigging, How Hacking Went Global“, will be published on August 10th 2020.

Everyone who signs-up will be sent a pdf of the first chapter – ‘Meet the Hackers’ – of Geoff’s book


The Story of the COV-19 Tracing App Explained. Is a Blockchain Needed? (30th June 2020)

Online via Zoom.

Dr Maria Vigliotti will discuss how a COV-19 Tracing App would work, including the app developed by the NHS. The latter has not been considered sufficiently secure by the National Cybersecurity Centre, which is one of the reasons why recently the UK Government has changed plans and decided to join forces with major tech companies for a new release of the app.

Could it have been made better by using blockchain to create a more secure and decentralised tracing app? Click HERE to purchase a copy of Maria’s book.

About our speaker

Dr Maria Grazia Vigliotti, Cyber Security & Blockchain Professional, Imperial College London

A lifelong experienced computing professional, who has worked as academic at Imperial College London specialising in writing AI algorithms to aid in cyber security and formal code verification.

Maria has worked in cyber security by convening and leading the development of the cyber security strategy for the entire British railway industry and worked on prevention of cryptographic attacks on the European Railway Traffic Management Systems (ERTMS). Maria has also advised most of the major players in the UK nuclear industry on smart device security.

Currently, Maria Grazia Vigliotti leads Sandblocks Consulting, a boutique consultancy specialising in blockchain technology and cybersecurity.

Maria G. Vigliotti is the co-author of “The Executive Guide to Blockchain”. The book aims to demystify blockchain by offering a jargon-free explanation to various aspects of the technology.


Smoke & Mirrors: How Hype Obscures The Future (14th May 2020)

Online via Zoom

It started with ghosts in the 1700s. ‘Conjured ghosts’ opens Gemma Milne’s book ‘Smoke & Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It’.

Hype – particularly around science and technology – engulfs our world like never before; we’re at a stage where even if we’re well-informed and technically literate we struggle to wade through the hype and find some truth.

This evening, our guest Gemma Milne will expand upon her new book and discuss examples of hype that will intrigue and inform you, followed by a Q&A where you’ll get the rare opportunity to explore many and varied hype and challenge Gemma to cut through it to the truth. 

Click HERE to get the introduction to Gemma’s book.

About our speaker

Gemma Milne, Technology & Science Writer

Gemma Milne is a Science & Technology Journalist covering all things deep tech, including biotech, advanced computing, space, energy and innovation in academia, for titles such as Forbes, The Times, BBC, and Quartz. She is the author of ‘Smoke & Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It’, which came out April 2020, published by Little Brown. She is also Co-Host of Science: Disrupt – a podcast interviewing the innovators, iconoclasts & entrepreneurs creating change in science. She is an Expert Advisor for the European Commission and Innovate UK, a Scout for Backed VC, an Innovation Jury Member for SXSW and a World Economic Forum Global Shaper.

Pre-order Gemma’s debut book, SMOKE & MIRRORS

Sign up to Gemma’s newsletter, Brain Reel

Twitter: @gemmamilne | Instagram: @gemmamilnewriter


Auditing Time, Place and Identity in Our Digital World (10th March 2020)

The virtual world runs our lives, unaudited, ‘marking its own homework’.
Earlier today, you probably clicked on “I agree” without any idea what you were agreeing to.  We’ve been complacent, ignoring the elephant in our data, and we only have ourselves to blame.

We must inject physical reality into all computing fabric to audit virtual processes. Electrons have consequences; they must be held to account in time, place and identity.  We need a new Digital Metrology – one where we understand the measurement science underpinning the digital world we live and work in and how this can – and must – be applied.

Join us to hear from Dr Richard Hoptroff, inventor, investor, entrepreneur, to hear the future before it’s happened and to ask very difficult questions about time, our digital world and what we need to do to ensure our futures are marked in audited time, place, and identity!

About our speaker

Dr Richard Hoptroff, Hoptroff Ltd

Richard’s last school report read:  He is basically lazy – he wants computers to solve his problems for him.

35 years on, he took this tack as a physicist specializing in real-time AI:  He has erred into economic forecasting, nonlinear control, price optimization, archaeological dating, high-accuracy luxury timepieces, and financial timestamping.  A consistent theme throughout has been data quality: Intellect is easy – good data is hard to find.

Dr. Richard Hoptroff is a long-term technology inventor, investor and entrepreneur. Awarded a PhD in Physics by King’s College London for his work in optical computing and artificial intelligence, in 1992, together with Ravensbeck, he founded Right Information Systems, a neural network forecasting software company which was in 1997 sold to Cognos Inc (part of IBM).

He created Flexipanel Ltd in 2001, a company supplying Bluetooth modules to the electronics industry.

In 2010, he founded Hoptroff London, with the aim to develop smart, hyper-accurate watch movements and create a new watch brand, establishing a new commercial category when he brought to market the first commercial atomic timepiece and atomic wristwatch.

Hoptroff has now leveraged his expertise in timing technology and software to develop a hyper- accurate synchronised timestamping solution for the financial services sector, based on a unique combination of grandmaster atomic clock engineering and proprietary software: Hoptroff London Ltd – Traceable Time as a Service (TTaaS®).


Quantum Technologies & Our Qubit Future (18th February 2020)

The UK has always been a world leader in ideas, invention, and innovation.  Now that technology is developing faster than ever, we must stay at the forefront of science and technological creativity, exploring and exploiting new technology areas. 

Recent emerging disruptive technologies have now emerged into ever-growing new industries, such as Quantum Technologies and Engineering Biology that will change our futures. 

And were now on the crest of the digital wave, as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning begin to use recent advances to not only revolutionise our industrial base but also our society. Quantum Computing – once a sci-fi dream – is now becoming a reality, with basic Quantum Supremacy recently demonstrated for the first time. 

The UK can stay at the forefront of the digital era through developing and exploiting these technologies – particularly Quantum Technologies and the materials development that underpins them, where we have world-leading R&D with considerable government investment combined with industry of nearly £1bn to date!

Join us to hear from Prof Neil Stansfield, a polymath with remarkable and extensive experience who leads UK strategy on development of Digital and Data Science, Future Communications and Quantum Technologies at National Physical Laboratory (NPL), to hear the future before it’s happened and to ask very difficult questions!

NPL is the national Laboratory for the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy with the mission to underpin the economic and societal wellbeing of the UK. One area of sharp focus is Quantum Technologies development, from materials to computing, to gravity wave detectors and communications.

About our Speaker

Professor Neil Stansfield, Head of Strategy and Head of Digital Sector, National Physical Laboratory

Neil Stansfield is Director of Strategy at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the national lab for the Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy. Neil also leads on the digital strategy for NPL, including Data Science, Future Communications, and Quantum Technologies.  

Neil has spent twenty-five years in a range of senior defence and security policy, strategy, and science and technology roles, working across Government and the private sector, nationally and internationally. Areas of responsibility have included: chemical and biological defence; arms control; ballistic missile defence; MoD’s maritime S&T programme; and as Deputy Director in the Office of Security and Counterterrorism. Most recently Neil led the Ministry of Defence strategy and programme for identifying and harnessing emerging and disruptive technologies. 

In 2007 Neil had the privilege of spending a year at the Royal College of Defence Studies, MoD’s most senior leadership development programme.  Neil holds a few visiting and honorary professorships, including “data science for national security” and an honour for “inspiring young people into science”.