After 20+ years in Silicon Valley, where I led global teams at Lucent, Altera, and LSI and ran a $400 million sales and marketing organisation, I went on to grow a Silicon Valley startup to over $100 million in global revenue.I founded Primotech, a London-based advisory and growth partner, to bridge a clear gap in how cutting-edge technology companies enter and expand in the UK and European markets.Primotech helps high-potential cybersecurity, fintech, AI, and quantum firms win major enterprise projects, secure flagship logos, and build long-term relationships across financial services, telco, and data-centre sectors.We’ve achieved major wins with leading organisations including JP Morgan Chase, Barclays, Bloomberg, NYSE/ICE, LSEG, Vodafone, BT, Morgan Stanley, and BAE Systems, helping over 20 emerging vendors establish reference customers, channel partnerships, and seven-figure pipelines.Since 2023, I also run Cyber &amp; Beats, an invite-only roundtable series in London for CISOs and CTOs. The format provides early access to game-changing technologies, credible peer insights, and meaningful conversations under Chatham House rules. Senior leaders explore topics such as AI in security, regulatory change, human risk, and real-world enterprise strategy.For CISOs and CTOs:I offer early access to emerging technologies before mainstream adoption. Whether you want to benchmark, explore new ideas, or stay ahead of the curve, I connect you with credible insights and trusted peers — without sales pressure.For Founders and Growth Teams:I help you break into complex enterprise environments, secure strategic pilots, navigate long sales cycles, and close high-value deals with the right senior sponsors.With deep networks across the UK, Europe, the US, and China, I bring together the right leaders, ideas, and opportunities — enabling innovation to scale faster and more effectively.

Steve Dodsworth

It’s important to rethink how we protect our digital society after experiencing an unprecedentedly chaotic 2025 with numerous large-scale AI driven cyber attacks.

It became apparent that cybersecurity must be viewed not only from an IT standpoint, but also as a public safety issue given the impact these attacks had on critical sectors such as healthcare and food distribution.

Moving forward, organisations will need to focus on building and maintaining their resilience, as opposed to merely achieving compliance.

See more here: https://heyor.ca/nq8b1K

#DigitalSociety #CyberSecurity #AIThreats #PublicSafety

Advisor and Business Partner — Driving Innovation & Growth | Silicon Valley Veteran | Helping CEOs, CISOs & CTOs in Fintech, Cyber, AI | Co-founder Cyber&Beats Roundtable | * Award-Winning Film Producer

Open article: Cybersecurity lessons from 2025 we cannot ignore in 2026 – Intelligent CISO by intelligentciso.com

Cybersecurity lessons from 2025 we cannot ignore in 2026 – Intelligent CISO

*40 LinkedIn Top Voices in Tech for 2025*|Consulting Engineer working with CISOs, CIOs and their teams to scope and solution workloads in Cloud, Cloud Security, Cybersecurity and AIsecurity|Tech Analyst| USAF Vet|

📌 Q: What is a non human identity (NHI)

A: a Non-Human Identity (NHI) refers to a digital credential assigned to a machine, application, or automated process rather than a human user. NHIs act as an "invisible workforce," outnumbering human identities in enterprise environments by ratios typically between 17:1 and 50:1. 

Core Characteristics

🔑Automation-Focused: They are designed to operate 24/7 without manual intervention, such as a script querying a database at 3 AM.

🔑 Programmatic Authentication: Unlike humans who use passwords or biometrics, NHIs authenticate using API keys, tokens, certificates, or cryptographic keys.

🔑 High Privilege & Scale: They often possess elevated permissions to execute backend tasks and proliferate rapidly through automated deployment pipelines. 

Common Types of NHIs

🧩 Service Accounts: Accounts used by applications or background services to perform routine tasks like data backups.

🧩 API Keys & Tokens: Short or long-lived strings that allow programmatic access between different software services.

🧩 Machine Identities: Credentials used to authenticate physical devices, virtual machines (VMs), containers, or IoT sensors.

🧩 Cloud & Workload Identities: Automatically generated roles or principals (e.g., AWS IAM Roles or Azure Managed Identities) that authorize cloud-based resources.

🧩 AI Agents: An emerging class of NHIs where autonomous AI systems use ephemeral, context-based credentials to interact with other systems. 

v/ JumpCloud 

Cc: Stan Lowe | Brad Moldenhauer | Derek Bush 

#AIDefense

As cybersecurity enters the year 2026, cybersecurity professionals will be facing a new set of challenges characterised by AI-generated threats and highly sophisticated attacks requiring advanced defenses.

AI security observation tools will allow organisations to effectively monitor end-user devices and identify anomalies in real time to help reduce opportunities for a breach to occur.

While the use of AI for increased threat detection and improved efficiency is beneficial to cybersecurity, organisations need to recognise the continuing importance of skilled cyber professionals.

Read more in this article: https://heyor.ca/AfdS0p

#CyberSecurity2026 #AIThreats #AdvancedDefenses #AISecurityTools

Open article: AI-Powered Security Observability Becomes the Backbone of Cyber Defence by techerati.com

AI-Powered Security Observability Becomes the Backbone of Cyber Defence

As stated in the recent Marsh Cybersecurity Report, two-thirds of global organisations will be increasing their cybersecurity budgets by 2026 and more than one-quarter plan to increase their spending by more than 25%.

The main areas where organisations are focusing their increased spend are security technology, incident response, and an increase in the workforce; all represent a proactive strategy for improving the security of customer data and improving an organisation's ability to respond to incidents that may occur.

With the increased number of third-party risks, as well as the recent attacks on several high-profile companies in the UK, companies should be strengthening their vendor security programs and making investments in cyber resilience at the board level.

Find out more in this article: https://heyor.ca/J9ksBc

#Cybersecurity2026 #CyberBudgetIncrease #SecurityTechnology #IncidentResponse

Open article: Majority of global firms plan to boost cyber spending in 2026 by cybersecuritydive.com

Majority of global firms plan to boost cyber spending in 2026

2026 will continue to change the cybersecurity landscape as the use of AI-driven attacks and defences will completely transform how organisations think about threats and how they respond to them.

These changes include an increased use of AI-based malware and an increase in 'predictive' security operations centres (SOCs), which focus on proactively anticipating threats rather than just responding to alerts.

The emergence of deepfakes will require a major change in the way that we can verify trustworthiness, while operational systems such as ERP and OT will be increasingly targeted by cybercriminals.

See more here: https://heyor.ca/3dT8Va

#CyberSecurity2026 #AIDrivenAttacks #PredictiveSOCs #DeepfakeChallenges

Open article: 5 Cybersecurity Predictions for 2026: An Industry Insider’s Analysis by heyor.ca

5 Cybersecurity Predictions for 2026: An Industry Insider’s Analysis

According to Deloitte's "Tech Trends 2026" report, the enterprise landscape is rapidly changing as more organisations use AI. As a result, companies are using technology to improve their operations and competitiveness, in addition to creating greater value from the products and services they provide.

Examples of current trends include the development of physical AI and robotics along with agent-based workforce strategies, as well as the need for organisations to develop optimised AI infrastructure to achieve greater efficiencies and innovation.

While AI creates opportunities for businesses to improve operations, it may also create security risks for them; thus, businesses should think strategically about how to leverage AI's advantages, while also protecting against potential security issues.

Find out more in this article: https://heyor.ca/X5DLiD

#TechTrends2026 #AIInBusiness #EnterpriseInnovation #AIInfrastructure

Open article: Tech Trends 2026: AI Comes of Age - WSJ by deloitte.wsj.com

With AI's rapid advancements driving cyber attacks to be more automated and adaptive than ever, organisations must prioritise cyber resilience as they evolve their cybersecurity strategy.

To overcome the increasing use of automation in cyber attacks and defend against continuously evolving cyber threats, organisations should strengthen their foundational security, including adopting Zero Trust principles and practising proactive governance.

In addition, as organisations develop offensive and defensive strategies for cyber defence, they will need to create cyber risk frameworks that include considerations of cyber resilience.

Learn more here: https://heyor.ca/edb8V9

#CyberResilience #CyberSecurityStrategy #ZeroTrustPrinciples #ProactiveGovernance

Open article: Cyber resilience in an era of AI-enabled offense by heyor.ca

Cyber resilience in an era of AI-enabled offense

In the United Kingdom, the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill is designed to provide protection against cyber threats by enhancing regulations and offering greater powers to regulators.

The Bill will cover three areas that will help to develop an effective environment for cybersecurity within the UK.

As a result, the legislation will provide additional layers of protection to critical sectors such as healthcare and energy, by requiring that these industries comply with minimum cybersecurity requirements and that incidents be reported quickly so that their supply chains are secure.

For more information, click here: https://heyor.ca/4ZrvZU

#CyberSecurity #UnitedKingdom #ResilienceBill #CyberThreats

Open article: What are the key areas of focus of government's Cyber Security and Resilience Bill? by techuk.org

What are the key areas of focus of government's Cyber Security and Resilience Bill?

This mirrors what CISOs say to me. AppSec noise keeps rising.  Teams drown in findings while real, exploitable risk waits quietly. Kodem cuts through noise by anchoring decisions in runtime evidence. That focus changes outcomes.
#AppSec #CISO #CyberSecurity #RuntimeSecurity

Chief Information Security Officer "CISO" (Fintech / Private Equity / Tech) | BCS Author

It was great spending time with Aviv Mussinger, the founder of Kodem Security, at our recent Cyber & Beats night.  Kodem is doing genuinely cutting-edge work in the application security space—focused on helping security teams reduce real risk without slowing developers down.
If AppSec is on your roadmap, it’s well worth reaching out to them for a conversation. Steve Dodsworth

Cybersecurity in 2026 will increasingly involve the interplay of global tensions and cyber terrorism from state actors such as Russia, China, and Iran, and their respective use of cyber warfare tactics to compromise areas of increasing importance, such as semiconductors.

At the same time, the growth of AI will provide new opportunities for malicious users to launch attacks in an advanced manner via techniques including, but not limited to, AI voice cloning, prompt injection, and automated botnets, which can be used for malicious activities.

AI will also provide organisations with tools to improve their ability to identify, analyse and respond to threats, in addition to creating a need for organisations to change quickly to help mitigate risk and protect critical infrastructure. This is as cyber warfare extends into the realm of outer space as a result of GPS systems now being used as an attack vector for disrupting GPS signals.

Read more in this article: https://heyor.ca/vX77Qt

#Cybersecurity2026 #CyberTerrorism #StateActors #CyberWarfare

Open article: 2026 cyber forecast: AI attacks and rising political tensions by heyor.ca

2026 cyber forecast: AI attacks and rising political tensions

According to a recent report from Genetec, as cyber and physical security converge in 2026, collaboration between security teams will become a focus area.

The trend is towards integrated technology versus using separated physical security systems.

Organisations will use data more efficiently and have greater operational efficiency with integrated technology and contribute to continued business.

For more information, click here: https://heyor.ca/A1iGcC

#CyberSecurity2026 #PhysicalSecurity #SecurityConvergence #IntegratedTechnology

Open article: With physical and IT security merging, collaboration will be a 2026 priority: Genetec by heyor.ca

With physical and IT security merging, collaboration will be a 2026 priority: Genetec

I’m at TechEx Global 2026 on 5 February at Olympia London. If you’re around, join me for a coffee and a quick catch-up.

Toby Babb

Growing teams, careers, brands and networks in Financial Technology for over 25 years. The go to for Global Financial Technology Recruitment.

On a mission to help grow the teams, brands, networks and careers of the very best in Financial Technology (FinTech), Tech Sales, Software Engineering and Cyber Security through unique, global recruitment solutions in our three specialist brands: Harrington Starr, North Starr and Search 5.0. 

💫 Do you see the best tech & sales talent as critical to the growth of your business?
💫 Do you want your brand to shine out as a magnet for the best in the industry to thrive in their career?
💫 Do you want access to a community of peers who can help grow your network, knowledge and team?
💫 Do you want to partner with a business who can help you not only grow your team but also help turbo charge your network?

For over a decade, we have helped over a thousand companies do all of the above. 

Harrington Starr has boosted thousands of careers in the FinTech market and helped businesses over 5 continents attract and on-board the best talent. We specialise in helping Capital Markets Vendors, Exchanges, Banks, Asset Managers, Hedge Funds, Consultancies, Start Ups, Disruptors, Scale Ups and Innovators achieve greatness.  

North Starr focuses on the Tech Sales  market helping the most innovative companies in the World build great teams, launch great careers and get the right talent for the right opportunities. 

Search 5.0 has been established to solve the developer skills gap, specialising in finding the best software engineering talent on the planet.

Through our Financial Technologist Magazine, FinTech Focus TV, The DEI Discussions, The 19% List, The Tech Salescraft Podcast, The Code Bytes Podcast, Events and Introductions we are uniquely placed to not only help you find great talent but also to help connect the sectors we serve. 

Offices in London, Belfast and New York. More to follow…

Awards: Recruiter Awards Entrepreneur of the Year 2019, Agency Leader of the Year 2018, 8 x Global Recruiter Awards 2018, 2019 & 2022  including Agency of the Year and Best Customer Service, TIARA Award for Best Marketing, CV Magazine 2019 Most Influential CEO of the Year.

Specialities: Recruitment, Community, Insight, Events, Magazines, Podcasts, Videos, Interviews & Connections for the Global FinTech, Tech Sales and Cyber Markets.

Contact me on 0203 587 7007, 07535 666 482 or toby.babb@harringtonstarr.com to see how we can help you.

Founder and CEO

Launched in 2010, Harrington Starr are the Global Leaders in Financial Services and Commodities Technology Recruitment.

CEO: Harrington Starr Recruitment
The company works with over 1000 of the leading names in Global Finance providing permanent, retained, contract and interim financial technology professionals.

The Financial Technologist Magazine: Our bespoke magazine gives leaders in financial technology a platform to tell their story. The Most Influential Listing and Ultimate Fintech Workplace Awards shine a light on the best in the sector every year.
FinTech Focus TV: Our Youtube show interviews the best and brightest in the sector with probing interviews looking at the events and tech that matter.
FinTech Focus Podcast: With special series focussing on talent, tech and diversity, the podcast is another way we grow the brands and networks of our clients.
The FinTech Influencers: Our community of the most influential names in Fintech meet for 3 events a year and numerous special interest groups and digital round tables.

Your Success. Our Business.

New York next week.

Fly Out Sunday, then if Carlsberg could do Monday mornings...

07:30 Breakfast meet in Midtown with a Global Quant Hedge Fund
09:00 See the Bell Ringing at NYSE
11:00 Meeting back in midtown with one of the biggest Hedge Funds in the World
12:30 treat myself to a Jersey Mike's Buffalo Chicken Sub

It's a stacked week with some meetings that I have been excited about for months. 

Maybe time to squeeze in a coffee on Thursday morning if anyone wants to talk careers, recruitment, growth and Fintech.

Great start to the week in Central Park with William L'Heveder officially merching me into the BMLL run club.

It’s a bit chilly but we got it done.

Huge week. Let’s go!!!

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"Stop using AI to write your CV" if you want a top job.

Interesting article in the Times this weekend with Grant Thornton's Malcolm Gomersall encouraging people to apply to a smaller number of roles that they really care about.

The craft in CV writing is an interesting one. 

AI, as in all areas of business, can speed things up and take a lot of the stress out of situations but often the result is a vanilla and obvious presentation that loses any trace of personality and specialisation. 

I often talk to people about the need to tailor CVs to the specifics of the role they are applying to, really showcasing how the work they have done so far is absolutely in line with what the role they are applying to looks like.

Too often the same CV goes to every application and the person reading it is left to fill in the gaps of how that person's experience can be relevant to what they are specifically looking for. 

Time spent really crafting a CV will dramatically enhance your potential of getting an interview. 

I love the potential of AI and I love the opportunity for efficiency and productivity gains. When it comes to your CV I truly believe that time, thought and authenticity are key.

In an increasingly competitive job market, showcasing your skills in your CV is an essential skill to master. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

🚨 High Performance Teams Start with Culture 🚨 

I could have spent hours talking high performance, sales and culture with the brilliant Tamsin Hobley from SIX.

Last year Tamsin wrote a post on LinkedIn that resonated with me. 

It was her thoughts around building high performance sales cultures and I loved it and asked her to come on to Fintech Focus TV to talk it through.

This is an episode that needs a part 2,3,4 and 5. Probably even a mini series. We barely scratched the surface of the subject but there is so much to take away from what we did discuss.

I am blown away by Tamsin and hugely impressed with how she thinks and has built a brilliant team. 

You can check out the episode on the Harrington Starr website, YouTube page or wherever you download your podcasts.

If you are looking to build a high performance culture, this one is for you.

A few years ago a client told me that their product had become the inevitable choice for anyone in the sector who had the specific problem they solved.

The word inevitable has lived with me ever since.

I love the idea of looking at an industry pain point and focussing all guns on ensuring that your business is the inevitable choice for customers in the space.

I am obsessed with the inevitablility of Harrington Starr for our clients, candidates and consultants. 

Our focus on the Financial Technology, Commodities and Quant Trading space is laser focussed on ensuring that if people are thinking of hiring, finding the best opportunities or growing their career, we are the inevitable choice.

That means being trusted to consistently deliver an outstanding service. It means adding value in every interaction. It means helping to grow not only teams but brands and networks. It means market knowledge, deep expertise, powerful networks, listening, understanding, speed, precision, consultancy and much more. 

It means making your success our business. 

I am excited about the plan for 2026, buzzing about "chasing inevitable" and we have some really positive moves happening.

Looking forward to sharing the journey of our progress towards this goal with you.

I’ve read this article about 7 times today. It’s phenomenal. 

Good to Great has long been my favourite business book but I have forgotten about the doom loop and the flywheel effect.

“the process, Collins wrote, ‘resembles relentlessly pushing a giant, heavy flywheel, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough, and beyond.’”

In January, performance at Harrington Starr has been better than result. What I have seen is clear indicators of real, positive momentum against our objectives.

We are building serious momentum. The flywheel is turning.

It makes me really excited as I sit here on a Saturday at the kitchen table. I may even read the article a couple of more times. And I am definitely taking good to great on the plane to re-read.

Energised, focused and enthused. The power of a good article in the paper. 

Also excited to see what momentum England can build in the Six Nations and beyond!

"Artificial Intelligence is 'costing more jobs than it creates' in Britain."

The same report suggests that in the US the reverse is true. 

I have always believed AI is less about replacing and more about enhancing. The US are getting this right.

The report by Morgan Stanley published in the Times today showcases that Britain still has a lot to do to live up to Kier Starmer's promise of turning the country into an AI superpower. 

The conversations I have had this year remain supremely positive about AI with the focus on augmentation and increased productivity rather than replacement. 

The UK's reported 8% reduction in roles over the past 12 months is double the average by companies in America, Germany, Japan and Australia. 

This points to me less about AI replacing jobs and more about a country failing to stimulate economic growth and placing barriers for companies to grow. 

We have a country that is perfectly situated to thrive as a Global technology leader and talented AI professionals that allow the nation to punch way above it's weight.

If we can stimulate economic growth and build confidence in hiring rather than put handbrakes through policy, I am hugely excited about what the next five years can bring. 

AI is the best opportunity we have had in a quarter of a century to solve the UK productivity issue. 

This isn't about replacing humans. 

It is about replacing tasks allowing us to be dramatically more productive in our jobs.

If the Government embraces that, we have a huge opportunity ahead of us and the embarrassing data from this report can catapult us back to the top of the board.

"In 2025 41% of all US Venture Capital went to just 10 companies." 

"A subset of 5 AI focused firms received about $84bn accounting for 20% of Global Funding that year."

" The top 30 VC firms raised 75% of total fundraising." 

"Of the top 10 startups that raised in 2025, 8 were AI focussed." 

Mega rounds were the dominating theme. 

Since 2020 Mark Beeston of Illuminate Financial has been kind enough to share his Tao on Fintech Focus TV at the start of every year. I've just recorded the 2026 episode and it was fascinating. 

Last year the Illuminate portfolio boasted 7 exits. 13 of their 53 investments have now exited. I have consistently had great feedback from the companies I deal with in the portfolio. He's brilliantly placed to give a broad view of the financial technology space. 

The data above gives couple of snippets from the episode that we will be releasing for you in the coming weeks. 

We also covered: 

How last year Mark predicted a move from Venture Winter to Venture Spring. Which season are we in today?

The evolution of digital assets infrastructure and why that space is exciting today. 

Predictions for the market in 2026. 

The evolution and concentration of assets...

... and much more.

Mark its always a great pleasure. Thank you for your time and insight.

Keep your eyes peeled for this one. It's a cracker.

A few bits for your ride home that caught my eye in the last couple of days…

👔 Shoes off on the office is a no go for me. We have one who does it occasionally (you know who you are). If I had my way, we would go back to the halcyon era of suits, shirts and ties. Anyone with me?

💬 ChatGPT knows who the go to company is for financial technology recruitment! (It’s Harrington Starr for clarity). See message to Con Lam earlier today.

🇬🇧City AM bringing good news headlines “Financial Services set for hiring spree for AI experts in 2026.” Headlines echoed in our work so far this January.

🎙️New FFTV out from Fintech Connect with Sharif Bouktila & Adam Bouktila talking RWA.io and why Tokenisation is the new rails. Head to YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts to listen to this gem.

👴Finally a powerful image of your life in months. I’m filling out the dots quickly (though I’m living until 110 at least) and it’s a great image to encourage you to seize the day.

Have a great trip home. See you bright and early!

Delighted to be a part of this brilliant initiative from Andrew Kaufmann and the Time to Give Network. Thanks Simon for the intro.

Equally happy to be able to help the School of Hard Knocks Charity and the brilliant work that Ken Cowen and the team do.

Andrew is relentless in his quest to create something special with the Time to Give Network and it is an honour to be involved. 

Check it out.

Founder @ Time to Give Network | Enabling Valuable Business Connections, Giving Back

I was originally introduced to Toby Babb by Time to Give Network Ambassador Simon McDowell. 

Toby launched Harrington Starr in 2010 and his firm is one of the global leaders in financial services and commodities technology recruitment. 

He has broken new ground in social media and the FinTech Focus TV has hosted 100+ leaders in the FinTech industry (including yours truly!) 

Toby is happy to offer a meeting to share his wealth of knowledge in the FinTech vertical in return for a donation to School of Hard Knocks (SoHK). 

Thank you for being an invaluable member of the Time to Give Network community, Toby.

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