Strengthening Cybersecurity Resilience and Citizen Protection within the Public Sector in 2025 and Beyond
The 2026 CyberGov Leaders Summit unpacked how Government and public sector cybersecurity leaders, and their teams were facing a growing list of complex challenges and demanding responsibilities. With the acceleration of digital transformation and AI, it was no longer a question of ‘if’ but instead a question of ‘when’ data breaches and cyberattacks would occur. More than ever, security teams needed innovative and proactive strategies to ensure organisational security.
The summit delved into innovative approaches for safeguarding systems, fostering rapid incident response and building a culture of collaboration between security teams and the organisation to protect against digital vulnerabilities and ensure business continuity.
Event themes
Automation meets adversarial AI:
Exploring how the public sector can defend against AI-driven phishing and deception while leveraging automation to boost efficiency, accuracy, and operational resilience
Identity-first security and adaptive access:
Building resilient access frameworks through strong digital identity and contextual authorisation to deliver secure access across government environments
Securing the supply chain:
Expanding resilience and risk management beyond IT to include all entities entrusted with government data or operational insight
Shared accountability in incident response: Empowering business functions to co-own response strategies, ensuring continuity across systems, people, and suppliers
The human factor, wellbeing, and skill uplift: Reframing culture, communication, and leadership to prevent burnout, bridge the language gap with executives, and build a resilient, business-aligned cybersecurity workforce
Governance, assurance and clarity:
Embed clear accountability, consistent standards, and continuous assurance to align cyber, risk, and compliance
Who attends?
Network and engage with Chiefs, Secretaries/Deputy Secretaries, Heads, Directors, General Managers across the public sector, with responsibilities including:
-
Cybersecurity Strategy and Operations
-
Information and IT Security
-
Cloud Security and Infrastructure
-
Identity and Access Management (IAM)
-
Data Security, Protection and Privacy
-
Network Security and Secure Architecture
-
Security Intelligence and Threat Intelligence
-
Zero Trust Frameworks and Strategies
-
Application and Endpoint Security
-
Security Operations Centre (SOC) Management
-
Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC)
-
Incident Detection and Response
-
Risk Assessment and Risk Management
-
Forensic Analysis and Cyber Investigations
-
Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Management
Featured Speakers
Luca Tagliaretti
Executive Director
European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (European Union)
Vicki Scott
Deputy Chief Executive, People Services and Delivery
Parliamentary Counsel Office
Julie Watson
Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer
WorkSafe NZ
Andy Higgs
Executive Director
Digital Identity New Zealand
Why Attend
1. Learn from Europe’s coordinated cyber defence model:
Hear from Luca Tagliaretti, Executive Director, European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (European Union), on building collective resilience, dual-use innovation and whole-of-nation cybersecurity capability
2. Hear from the Deputy Privacy Commissioner on the future of biometrics in government:
Liz MacPherson, Deputy Privacy Commissioner, will explain how biometrics can both strengthen security and enable innovation, and the privacy, transparency and governance requirements agencies must meet to deploy them safely
3. Discover leading case studies in cyber automation, workforce capability and threat response:
Gain practical insights from agencies uplifting skills, embedding automation safely, and strengthening real-time detection and response
4. Strengthen resilience through whole-of-business incident response:
Learn how executives, operations, digital, and security leaders can build shared accountability and coordinated crisis response across government
5. Connect with cybersecurity leaders across government:
Network with CISOs, security architects, intelligence teams, risk leaders, emergency management, compliance and resilience specialists from across central and local government
6. Choose your own experience across both summits:
Move freely between the CyberGov and DigiGov streams to build a personalised agenda and gain a complete view of New Zealand’s digital, data and cyber ecosystem
