Steve Pellerin joins Jason D’Souza, host of CBC’s All Points West, for a timely conversation about cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and the practical steps we can all take to stay safer online.

From AI-generated deepfakes and synthetic voices to increasingly convincing phishing and financial scams, the online threat landscape is changing quickly. Steve explains why awareness, strong account security, and local community connections matter more than ever—for individuals, families, businesses, and public institutions.

They also discuss the value of building a stronger local cybersecurity community and preview BSides Vancouver Island, the annual community-driven cybersecurity conference bringing together security professionals, students, researchers, and curious newcomers on Vancouver Island.

In this interview, you’ll hear about:

• How AI is making scams, deepfakes, and impersonation attempts more convincing
• Why “community is your first line of defense” against emerging cyber threats
• Practical ways to protect your accounts, including enabling multi-factor authentication
• How local meetup groups and security communities can improve cyber awareness
• Why organizations need to invest in people, training, and a stronger human firewall
• What to expect from BSides Vancouver Island

If you take only one action after watching: turn on multi-factor authentication now—especially for your email, banking, and social-media accounts.

🎟️ Get your ticket now at bsidesvi.com and join Vancouver Island’s cybersecurity community for a full day of practical, community-driven security research and conversation.

Follow BSides Vancouver Island for conference updates, community content, and future interviews:
https://www.youtube.com/@BSidesVancouverIsland
https://www.linkedin.com/company/26519449
https://www.instagram.com/bsidesvi

#Cybersecurity #OnlineSafety #ArtificialIntelligence #Deepfakes #ScamAwareness #MFA #BSidesVI #BSidesVancouverIsland #VancouverIsland #CyberSecurityConference

Our very own Ryan Smith joined CBC On the Island host Gregor Craigie for a quick look at our upcoming BSides Vancouver Island conference and his upcoming talk, The Control Plane Awakens: How Attackers Are Taking Over Network Edge Infrastructure.

Attackers are no longer just trying to get through the firewall or VPN—they are turning network-edge infrastructure into a long-term operational foothold. Ryan shares why this matters, how adversaries exploit these critical control points, and what defenders can do to detect and respond.

See Ryan’s full presentation live at BSides Vancouver Island 2026 on Friday, September 25 at the Victoria Conference Centre.

🎟️ Get your ticket now at bsidesvi.com and join Vancouver Island’s cybersecurity community for a full day of practical, community-driven security research and conversation.

#BSidesVI #Cybersecurity #NetworkSecurity #InfoSec #VictoriaBC

Get a rapid fire preview of the ideas, people and conversations coming to BSides Vancouver Island 2026.

In this final speaker-highlight compilation, hear from researchers, defenders, builders and community leaders tackling the issues shaping cybersecurity today: AI and agentic systems, identity, network defence, software supply-chain risk, emerging threats and the practical work of keeping organizations secure.

But BSidesVI is about more than the talks. It is a grassroots, community-driven event where security professionals, students, researchers, technology leaders, and people who are simply curious can learn, connect, share experience, and help strengthen the cybersecurity community on Vancouver Island and beyond.

A huge thank-you to every speaker, volunteer, attendee, organizer and sponsor helping make this conference possible. Your support is what turns BSidesVI from a conference into a community.

Join us this Friday, September 25, at the Victoria Conference Centre. Come hear the full talks, meet the speakers, reconnect with colleagues, make new connections and be part of the conversation.

🎟️ Tickets, schedule, and event details: http://bsidesvi.com

#BSidesVI #Cybersecurity #InfoSec #VictoriaBC #VancouverIsland #SecurityResearch #AISecurity #CyberSecurityCommunity