Jessica Barker Profile Picture

Keynote SpeakerJessica Barker

Expert in the human side of cyber security

Dr Jessica Barker MBE is a best-selling author and international keynote speaker. An award-winning leader in the human side of cyber security, she has delivered face-to-face awareness sessions to over 70,000 people. Jessica is the go-to cyber expert for media including the BBC, Sky News and Wired magazine and she... Read more

Biography

Dr Jessica Barker MBE is a best-selling author and international keynote speaker. An award-winning leader in the human side of cyber security, she has delivered face-to-face awareness sessions to over 70,000 people. Jessica is the go-to cyber expert for media including the BBC, Sky News and Wired magazine and she has delivered over 80 keynotes, including NATO, the World Government Summit, Arm, and RSA San Francisco.

Jessica is Co-Founder of the cyber security company Cygenta, where she focuses on her purpose to advance cyber security awareness, behaviour, and culture in organisations around the world. She serves on numerous industry boards, including the UK Government Cyber Security Advisory Board. The author of best-selling books ‘Hacked’ and ‘Confident Cyber Security’, she helps audiences around the world understand why people are the heart of cyber security. In June 2023, Jessica was awarded an MBE for services to cyber security by King Charles III in his first Birthday Honours.

When Jessica is not working, she loves learning and so over the years she has taken classes in everything from horse riding to singing to circus skills. Born in the UK, she now lives in Las Vegas with her husband FC and their cat Bubble.

Event went really well and Jessica is a star, a true pleasure working with her! The average rating of the speakers during the event was high, 3.82 overall and Jessica got 4.68 which is the highest score of the day. IDG AB
“Jessica was a delight to have on site. Her content was on point and delivered with enthusiasm, keeping the audience engaged the entire time. We heard from many of our stakeholders that she was one of the BEST speakers they have ever seen.” PCI Security Standards Council
"It was awesome to have Jessica keynote. It is speakers like her who move the quality needle for us" Cisco Cloud Security
“Jessica presented her approach to building a strong security awareness culture to our global security leadership and has had a major influence in shaping our approach to building a strong security culture across our business” Bupa
"It was a top performance and feedback included 'Inspiration for a positive angle to awareness', 'Many fantastic points, and things to bring back home' and '2nd time I heard her!! Still excellent!'" Dubex
"The session was entertaining, insightful and tailored perfectly to communicate what can sometimes be quite a complex topic" Dyson
"Jessica changed my mindset regarding user awareness. I have since trained more than 300 employees in information security awareness and used her tips to make a big difference. Thank you Jessica for inspiring me!" AB Brasil
"Jessica did an amazing job covering the material and answering all the questions that were addressed. I even raved to my daughters about her presentation! Job well done" - Autodesk
"I'd highly recommend Jessica to anyone wanting a fresh perspective on cyber security. Her approach, driven by positivity and education, can help mute the noise of cyber security and foster a culture that is more resilient and proactive" Torus Technologies
"Wow, wow… it was such a rewarding experience to interview Jessica for our cyber security community of practice, her profound expertise and insights went over so well with our audience she received one of the highest satisfaction ratings" Ontario Public Sector Cyber Security Community

Popular Talks by Jessica Barker

  • Hacked: The Secrets Behind Cyber Attacks
    This keynote draws on Jessica’s bestselling book Hacked: The Secrets Behind Cyber Attacks, published in 2024. In this session, Jessica delves into some of the most eye-opening, jaw-dropping and action-orientated case studies from her book Hacked. This storytelling gets people to sit up in their seats and take a fresh...
  • The Human Nature of Cyber Security
    Cyber security is so often presented and discussed in deeply technical terms. While technology is at the heart of cyber security, so is human awareness, behavior and culture. In this session, Dr Jessica Barker highlights how human bias makes us all susceptible to online manipulation and how we can practically...
  • Why Social Engineering is BS
    Social engineering is involved in most ‘hacks’, with phishing the number one threat to organisations. In this keynote, Dr Jessica Barker explores the psychology, neuroscience and sociology of scams. She explores the emotional bait that criminals use to manipulate us and the human biases that make us all vulnerable. Using...
  • Why Culture is Key to Cyber Security
    Cyber security culture eats breaches for breakfast. In this session, Dr Jessica Barker explains what this really means: what actually is security culture and why is it so important? Jessica makes cyber security culture real: it is not something intangible but rather something that we can define, understand, measure and...
  • Cyber security and the Psychology of Fear
    For too long, the cybersecurity industry has attempted to use FUD to engage with the human element. This engaging talk draws on extensive research in the sociology and psychology of fear, as well as real-world case studies. Dr Jessica Barker explains why we can’t simply scare people into security, but...
  • How a Hack Works. Demonstrating a Phishing Attack
    Year on year, phishing attacks keep on growing. It is now the biggest online threat to organisations. This session brings the who, how and why of phishing to life. Dr Jessica Barker explores how phishing attacks work, the human factors behind them and what we can do to mitigate against...