Tech Events in Cork

Running since June 2013, every month we have 1-2 talks focused on Security or Technology - followed by socialising with like minded people

• You can find out exactly what to expect about the night and the venue on the What We're About section of our Meetup page. Past talk details can be found the "Past Events" section.
• All people with any sort of an interest or level of knowledge in Security, Hacking and Emerging Technology are more than welcome to attend and feel free to bring like minded colleagues and friends.

CorkSec is made possible through generous sponsorship from our Platinum Sponsor TrendAI, Gold Sponsor CyberSkills , as well as our Silver and Bronze Sponsors featured prominently on the night.

Our talks come from our community so if you have an idea for a topic (anything for 10-60 minutes) please email us at DefconCork@gmail.com . Whether you are an experienced presenter, or presenting for your first time - CorkSec is a great venue for it - and we are happy to help you prepare and mentor you.

Doors open at 19:00 with talks starting at 19:15. Talks below

TALK 1: Airgapped System | Not a problem. Lessons Developing Malware for a NATO Exercise by Sabastian Hague
Step inside the development process behind Exercise Locked Shields 2026, the largest and most complex cyber live-fire exercise in the world
Centri had the honour of supporting Locked Shields by developing realistic technical content for some of the most capable cyber operators globally. This session explores the challenge of building scenarios that are credible, relevant, and difficult enough to test defenders operating at enterprise and nation-state level.
You’ll hear how we approached the design of advanced exercise content, the considerations involved in developing realistic adversary behaviour, and how we balanced technical depth, safety, and learning value.
The session will also walk through one of the more intricate malware components developed for the exercise. Rather than relying on obvious destructive behaviour, this tooling was designed around specific operational objectives, showing how subtle functionality can be harder for commercial detection tooling to identify.
Can malware be effective without being noisy? Can highly specific functionality create a bigger detection challenge than overtly malicious behaviour?
Join us and find out.

TALK 2: Adopting AI for Threat Defense: What Actually Works (and What’s Still Hype) by Saurabh Khadtare
A lot of people in security are understandably skeptical of “AI” right now. Marketing slides promise fully autonomous SOC's, while real defenders are still drowning in huge alerts and brittle detection logic. At the same time, attackers are already using automation and AI‑adjacent tooling to scale phishing, brute forcing, credential abuse, and exploitation, so a purely manual defensive approach is becoming unrealistic.
In this talk, I’ll share practical lessons from working as a security engineer and Pentester on how AI is actually starting to help with threat defense, and where it absolutely should not be trusted on its own. I’ll break “AI for defense” into three buckets: classical ML/UEBA and anomaly detection, AI‑powered SOC automation for triage and noise reduction, and LLM‑based that help with summarizing incidents, writing queries/rules, and translating technical findings for non‑technical stakeholders. For each bucket, I’ll walk through concrete workflows and examples (using redacted or synthetic data) showing what sucked before, what AI does better, and what still needs a human in the loop.
I’ll also cover the major limitations and risks: hallucinations, weak multi‑step reasoning, prompt injection, and new attack surfaces introduced by LLMs and vendor tools. The goal is to give the audience a realistic blueprint for where AI can safely augment defenders today, and where “AI‑only” approaches are still pure hype.

We will also have a seat for the CPTA | Certified Penetration Testing Associate to give away on the night

Move beyond AI experimentation. Hear from industry leaders on what works, what doesn't and how to turn AI into real business value.

Everyone is experimenting with AI. Few can say what it's delivering. Teams are moving fast, and good ideas are racing ahead alongside the bad ones, leaving a lot of activity that's hard to measure or link to strategy. Join leaders from emagine, Amazon, TLI Group, Boston Scientific and the Naval Service as they share what’s working, what isn’t and how to put the right structure and guardrails around AI to deliver real results.

Join Tech Industry Alliance and emagine for our upcoming Tech Talk: From AI Experiments to Real Value, taking place on Thursday, 10 December 2026, at The Sky Room, Penrose Dock, Cork.

This panel discussion will explore how organisations can move beyond AI experimentation to deliver measurable business value. Drawing on real-world experiences, our speakers will share practical insights, lessons learned and the opportunities and challenges of implementing AI across their organisations.

Attendees will have the opportunity to hear directly from industry leaders, ask questions and connect with professionals from across the South West’s technology community.

Event Speakers

• Ailbhe Murray – PMO Lead, Amazon
• Brian Matthews – Head of Communications and Information Systems, The Naval Service
• John Carmody – Senior Manager, Automation and Digitalization, Boston Scientific
• Russell Fleming – Chief Technology Officer, TLI Group
• Roos Robben – Head of Data & AI, emagine NL
• Facilitator: Emma Daly – Advisory & Training Director, emagine, and Director, PMI Ireland Chapter

Event Details

• Date: Thursday, 10 December 2026
• Time: 07:30 – 09:30
• Venue: The Sky Room, Penrose Dock, Cork

Who Should Attend?

This event is ideal for business and technology leaders, project and programme managers, digital transformation professionals and anyone interested in moving beyond AI experimentation to deliver tangible business value.

Event Sponsor: emagine

emagine is a high-end business and IT consultancy headquartered in Copenhagen, with locations across 14 countries. The company offers onshore, nearshore and offshore solutions. In Ireland, emagine provides organisations with direct access to its wider network of in-house experts and trusted consultants.

The company specialises in strategy and transformation, project delivery, cloud and infrastructure, data and AI, technology development, and risk and compliance. Its delivery solutions include staff augmentation, advisory and solutions, managed teams and services, and training. Whatever the challenge, emagine brings the right expertise to it, from Cork across its global network.

Explore opportunities in the global space economy & discover how Irish businesses can leverage their expertise to enter this growing sector

Join Tech Industry Alliance at Blackrock Castle Observatory on Wednesday, 28 January 2027, from 7.30am–9.30am for a morning exploring how Irish companies can tap into the growing opportunities presented by the global space economy. Hear from our expert panellists, including:

• Facilitator: Dr Niall Smith, Head of Research at Munster Technological University
• Enda Keane, CEO at Treemetrics
• John O’Sullivan, Managing Director at Douglas Control and Automation
• Peter Finnegan, Manager of ESA Space Solutions Centre Ireland and Head of New Ventures at Tyndall National Institute

Space is no longer just about rockets and satellites. The sector increasingly draws on technologies and expertise already well established within Irish businesses from artificial intelligence, data analytics and cyber security to automation, robotics, advanced manufacturing and Earth observation.

The event will showcase how these capabilities can translate into real commercial opportunities. Cork-based TreeMetrics, for example, has worked with the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop forest monitoring solutions using satellite Earth Observation data, alongside data analytics and remote sensing technologies.

Companies such as Douglas Control & Automation, with expertise in areas including automation, robotics, systems integration, process control and advanced manufacturing, demonstrate the types of capabilities that can potentially be applied to the needs of the space supply chain.

We will also hear from ESA BIC Ireland / ESA Space Solutions Ireland, who will outline the funding, technical expertise, business support and connections available to Irish start-ups and established companies looking to enter or expand within the space sector.

Whether you are already working with space technologies or are simply curious about how your company’s existing expertise could open the door to a new market, this event will provide practical insights into where the opportunities are and how to get started.