The manager of Edinburgh Napier University’s Cyber Academy is preparing for an unusual marathon – backed by some leading professionals from the world of AI, gaming, and online security.
Basil Manoussos will run 24 online events in 24 hours – dubbed The Cyber Marathon – to mark this year’s Cyber Scotland Week.
The back-to-back series of conversations, webinars and a panel session will showcase a broad range of 20 guests from the cyber sector, including directors in the IT industry, gaming leaders, academics, and digital forensics experts.
The first event begins at 9am on Tuesday 27 February, with the final one finishing at the same time the following day.
While they will be free to join, any donations in support will go to the Scottish SPCA.
Basil said: “I set out with this marathon as a personal challenge, then thought I would have three or four guests to break the monotony of it. But that is when things kicked off, and I now have 20 amazing people joining me.
“I am excited to welcome all those people and of course to learn from them. We’ll have people from the top IT companies in the world, charities, banks, cybersecurity providers, AI experts, start-ups, the Scottish Government and even Interpol.
“People should join because they are bound to learn something new about cybersecurity, cybercrime, online risks, and behaviours.”
As for how he plans to keep going for the full 24 hours, Basil’s strategy includes a good sleep the day before, the support of his wife, and a constant supply of caffeine.
The full Cyber Marathon programme and links to sign up to any of the individual events can be found here.
There will also be updates throughout with the hashtags #CyberMarathon #BasilsCyberMarathon and #CSW2024 on X (formerly Twitter).