Continent 8 Technologies’ Principal of Innovation & Technology, David Brace, recently attended ICE 2025. With a new home in Barcelona, the event was busier than ever with a footfall of 56,000 attendees!
Here, David shares his key takeaways from the industry’s biggest ever event.
What were your impressions of ICE 2025? What did you enjoy most about the show?
This year’s ICE was hosted in a significantly larger venue than in previous years. This expansion allowed for larger exhibition stands and provided ample space for engaging, meaningful discussions. It was a really great job from the organisers.
On Monday, the organisers also held a memorial for NEXT.io’s Nico Jansen, who passed away on January 9, just before ICE. Members of the iGaming community gathered to share memories of Nico. It was a heartfelt tribute to honour and remember a cherished member of our community.
That’s certainly a wonderful and touching gesture by the ICE organisers.
At ICE, this was a busier year than normal for you as you took on multiple roles, including Chair of ICE’s ‘Combating Cybercrime Workshop’ content stream and participating in several cybersecurity panels and sessions. Could you share some of your key insights from these experiences?
The World Gaming Forum – ICE’s three-day learning, networking and knowledge sharing exchange – featured various tracks, with my role as Chair of the cybercrime stream. The organisation was once again exemplary, with the event producers assembling a distinguished lineup of speakers. The four panels I participated in or chaired included CEOs, CISOs, company founders and expert consultants from various companies.
The first session, ‘Risks to the gaming industry: cybersecurity & organised crime,’ was a terrific opening presentation by AlixPartners. The US-based cybersecurity consultants delivered a global overview of cybersecurity, highlighting the potential impact of cyberattacks on organisations and sharing key statistics, such as the estimated average cost of a data breach exceeding 4.88 million USD, according to IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report.
Although I wasn’t involved in the subsequent session, ‘Meet the modern day hacker: What’s wrong with gaming’s current information security?’, Greg van der Gaast, Hacker & Ex-Undercover FBI Asset and Managing Director from Sequoia Consulting, did an exceptional job of translating cybersecurity risk into real-world analogies that people could use in boardrooms and for presentations.
In the panel session I moderated, ‘Convincing your boss that cyber matters: building a strong cybersecurity culture’, Alexandre Tomic, Founder of Alea, offered valuable insights on API security and its critical role in safeguarding against third-party vulnerabilities.
In the same session, Brian Harris, CISO of DraftKings, provided insights on third-party library vulnerabilities, illustrating a common scenario where engineers might download code snippets from the Internet and integrate them into their applications, potentially compromising their own systems. Brian emphasised that while human behavior cannot be entirely controlled, implementing static code reviews can help identify potential vulnerabilities.
From your discussions, could you highlight some prevalent trends, themes, or frequently asked questions regarding cybersecurity?
The biggest operators are now at the forefront of promoting cybersecurity adoption and advocacy. In the US and EU, publicly listed companies are legally required to ensure cybersecurity, leading them to implement stringent cybersecurity and business practices for their suppliers to ensure comprehensive security measures are in place. This topic was discussed on the aforementioned panel session, where it was noted that companies such as Alea, DraftKings and Entain conduct thorough due diligence on their suppliers, especially from a cybersecurity perspective, as part of any provisioning or tender process.
Do you have any final thoughts from the event and maybe what to keep an eye out for in 2025 and beyond?
ICE was extremely well-attended – there literally wasn’t a quiet moment!
Over the course of three days, it facilitated numerous good-quality discussions, interactions with existing customers and engagement with potential prospects. Our brand-new stand was busier than ever, and the team welcomed customers and partners to a must-attend cocktail and networking event on the Tuesday evening at the Terraza del Sercotel Rosellón.
The show is certainly a must-attend for Continent 8. We’re already looking forward to ICE 2026!
Cybersecurity solutions for a safer tomorrow
Continent 8 provides comprehensive, multi-layered threat prevention, detection and response solutions to secure your iGaming and online sports betting organisation’s digital assets in the face of evolving cyber threats. For more information on how Continent 8 can support your cybersecurity initiatives, email sales@continent.com or fill out our Contact Us page.
