Last night a DJ erased my drive - A musical journey through cybersecurity, chaos, and control
As Joni Mitchell famously sang “Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone.”
Like how an envelope generator in electronic music shapes a sound's character over time, this talk is concerned with the shape and characteristics of cybersecurity and is all about what music teaches us about attacks, timing, and resilience.
Music and cybersecurity have much in common since they are about identity and community. Both require a trigger to set off a series of events. Music can be creative or destructive.
Over the years, music has been used to spread misinformation. Music has also been a method to control and torture people. For example, the use of acoustic bombardment to bring down the Noriega regime in Panama.
Conversely in times of oppression, music has been used as a form of communication to bypass censorship.
Music can be a destructive force. Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation video caused hard drives to crash and was classified with its own CVE.
Modern attacks don’t break systems, they blend into them & succeed by being hidden amongst operational noise.
Using the structure of music production (signal/noise, mixing and mastering) to explore real-world attack chains, the goal is to share practical insights into why detection fails.
This is an audio-visual journey providing solutions for redesigning security controls that prioritise clarity over complexity and focusing on these key elements:
1) Timing is crucial for rapid detection and response.
2) Cadence is essential to sustainable controls and safeguards.
3) Simplicity is key for ensuring effective resilience and protection.
Please see the video at the following link to get a flavour of this talk:
Mathew Caplan has spent more than 25 years helping organisations improve cybersecurity and build resilience in an increasingly complex world.
As Director of Professional Services at Orange Cyberdefense, Mathew works with people across multiple industries and countries to address cyber risk and regulatory challenges.
Alongside his leadership role, he is a regular international conference speaker who believes cybersecurity should be accessible, engaging and people focused.
Through real-world insights, practical experience, storytelling and creativity, his talks explore how identity and human behaviour shape modern cybersecurity, making complex concepts understandable, memorable and actionable.
Whether advising executives, leading consulting teams or speaking on stage, his focus remains the same: helping organisations build trust, resilience and confidence amid constant change.