GovTech STACKx Cybersecurity 2026 (17 Apr 2026)

“Rising Flames” captures the defining tension of the AI-driven digital age. Like fire, AI is a force of profound duality - capable of forging progress, resilience and scale, yet equally capable of amplifying harm when misused or left unchecked. As AI proliferates, the “flames” rise, fuelled by automation, accelerating attacker tradecraft, and increasingly complex digital ecosystems.

In this volatile environment, public and business trust in the government services stands directly in the line of fire. Trust is no longer implicit or enduring, but can be fragile, contested, and vulnerable to erosion by insecure AI systems, cascading failures, or a single breach. Once lost, trust is costly and slow to restore.

The metaphor underscores a critical message – that trust cannot be retrofitted in crisis. It must be intentionally designed into systems, actively governed, and continuously earned. Just as fire demands mastery and restraint, AI requires disciplined stewardship – harnessed to strengthen digital foundations while preserving the trust upon which our digital future depends.

In blacksmithing, fire transforms raw metal into precision tools. In cyber defence, AI plays the same role – shaping capability through skilled, deliberate application. “Forging with Fire” reflects how controlled use of AI can meaningfully strengthen cyber defence capability. This track explores how organisations are deploying AI across the full spectrum of cybersecurity from attack surface management to threat modelling, and from security testing to detection and response.

As AI systems grow more autonomous and agentic, security across the full AI lifecycle is critical. This track focuses on how organisations secure AI systems from architecture design and development to deployment and continued assurance. Topics include secure-by-design architectures, the AI threat kill chain across data, models, agents and orchestration layers, and emerging attack vectors such as prompt injection, tool misuse, and unintended agent behaviour. Participants can expect in-depth conversations which explore AI-specific threat analysis, monitoring and detection in an AI environment and the role of AI penetration testing in validating resilience.

Even as AI accelerates in cybersecurity, leadership remains decisively human. This track examines the irreplaceable human dimension of cyber leadership. The track explores how modern cyber leaders balance technical complexity with business realities, regulatory pressures and stakeholder expectations. Through practitioner insights and real-world case studies, participants can expect to gain practical frameworks for leading teams, governing risks, and building sustainable cyber resilience – alongside approaches to succession planning and mentoring the next generation of cyber leaders.