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Ethical hacker Rob Shapland: 'Firms are over-reliant on e-learning for cybersecurity – we all know we pay very little attention to it'

Interview
James Chapple
2 June 2026

Ahead of the ITT conference (8-10 June), ethical hacker and director of cybersecurity consultancy Cyonic, Rob Shapland, assesses travel's preparedness for the cyber risks of today, how AI will put more tools at criminals' disposal, and what businesses can do to ensure they are on their toes.

Cyonic's Rob Shapland is an ethical hacker and consultant on cybersecurity challenges
Rob Shapland / Cynonic

Shapland believes cybersecurity training is often a tickbox exercise that fails to engage employees

Rob, tell us a bit more about yourself, your route into the industry and your career, and what wisdom you'll be sharing at the conference.

I'm Rob Shapland, and I run Cyonic, a consultancy focused on social engineering, training and tabletop cyber exercises. I've been an ethical hacker for the last 18 years.

My main niche is infiltrating companies' head offices, and then stealing information or planting devices into the network, to test both their physical and cyber security together. I then record it all on hidden cameras and use it in really fun and engaging face-to-face cyber training.