Saudi Arabia’s National Cybersecurity Authority announces the GCF Annual Meeting 2024

Saudi Arabia’s National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA) has announced the Global Cybersecurity Forum (GCF) Annual Meeting 2024, to be held in Riyadh, 2-3 October 2024.

Under the theme ‘Advancing Collective Action in Cyberspace’, the event will unite thought leaders, decision makers and experts across the global Cyberspace community to bolster international cooperation, address shared challenges, enhance socioeconomic development, and enable deeper dialogue to align international cybersecurity efforts and unlock opportunities in Cyberspace.

The GCF Annual Meeting 2024 represents the next stage in a multi-phase iterative process – from rethinking, to charting, to advancing collective action in Cyberspace. The year-on-year thematic progression of the GCF Annual Meeting reflects GCF’s evolution from a meeting point for the global cybersecurity community to a permanent platform for making positive, lasting impact in Cyberspace based on shared goals.

The theme of the GCF 2023 Annual Meeting was ‘Charting Shared Priorities in Cyberspace’, which sought to spearhead strategic planning and build on the foundation set by the GCF 2022 theme, ‘Rethinking the Global Cyber Order’. The 2024 Annual Meeting will advance substantive collective action on Cyberspace, with panel discussions focused on five key sub-themes.

• Beyond Cyber Discord: Building trust in the context of geopolitical competition to ensure effective collaboration on key global issues, and highlight areas to expand initiatives.
• Thriving Cyber Economy: Developing strong markets and building resilient cyber ecosystems, leveraging cyber economics to drive growth and development.
• Cyber Social Fabric: Strengthening development and inclusion in Cyberspace to explore how Cyberspace can bridge social and developmental divides between communities, organizations, and nations.
• Cyber Psychology: Decoding human behaviors in Cyberspace to map the psychological aspects of cybersecurity and cybercrime, illuminating the impacts of behavior and decision-making in Cyberspace.
• The New Cyber Frontier: Integrating convergent technologies in Cyberspace to consider the implications of emerging technologies and how they can be harnessed to drive progress and innovation in cybersecurity.

The GCF journey started in 2020 with the inaugural edition of the Global Cybersecurity Forum organized by NCA during the Kingdom’s G20 presidency.

In 2023, the GCF Institute was established as a global, independent non-profit organization headquartered in Riyadh, aiming to translate the dialogue from the Forum into impactful initiatives that bring safety and prosperity to people around the world.  The Institute will act as a global platform committed to strengthening cyber resilience through shared priorities, purposeful dialogue, and impactful initiatives.