Leeds Digital Festival at SEP2 HQ

This week, we were proud to open our headquarters in Leeds to cybersecurity enthusiasts of all backgrounds for a day of hands-on learning as part of Leeds Digital Festival. In collaboration with Leeds City College (LCC), the event featured interactive activities, a guided tour of the Lab and the Security Operations Centre (SOC) as well as the opportunity to chat with the teams from both SEP2 and LCC.

The day included keynote speeches from SEP2 employees: Paul Starr, CEO; James Woodward, Head of Technology; Jon Cumiskey, Head of Information Security; John Tammaro, Head of Service Delivery; Corin McCourt, Presales Consultant; and Maya Lea-Langton, Principal SOC Analyst and former apprentice. Collectively, these speakers brought a knowledge base of over 50 years in the cybersecurity industry. We were also joined by Cheryl MacFarlane, Deputy of Apprenticeships and Commercial in Digital and IT at LCC. With over a decade of experience in developing and managing courses and programmes, Cheryl’s expertise was a valuable addition to our event.

SEP2 Team

The SEP2 team thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to share their knowledge and skills with attendees. Here is what they had to say about the day:

“Delivering to the Leeds Digital Festival attendees was a delight, with active engagement throughout and post-presentation. It was highly encouraging speaking to the attendees afterwards and hearing about their aspirations and answering their detailed questions about the content delivered, but also related career questions not specifically covered during the sessions. It’s inspiring to see number and strength of candidates working towards their careers in Cyber Security.”

Corin McCourt, Presales Consultant

“The main goal for hosting this event was to reach out to anyone, regardless of their background, who is interested in cybersecurity and give them the knowledge and tools they need to get them started in their dream career. I was really impressed with Leeds City College and the wealth of resources and courses they can offer.”

Maya Lea-Langton, Principal SOC Analyst

“Whilst many of our presentation slides were quite technical, we had some fantastic responses from the questions we asked our audience. We certainly had some very knowledgeable people in that room. When I think of how well versed in both networking and in cyber security they were already, I can only imagine how successful many of you will go on to be in your prospective careers in our industry.”

John Tammaro, Head of Service Delivery

“Fantastic to see so many people taking time out of their own busy schedules to come to our event. It has made us consider whether this is something we may do on a more regular basis! We have already had some great feedback so big congratulations to the team for all their hard work.”

Dave Gore, People Manager

Alongside initiatives like the SEP2 Cyber Schools and Apprenticeship scheme, events such as Leeds Digital Festival are crucial to SEP2’s values and demonstrate our commitment to widening participation in the cyber security industry.