Hybrid Threats and Cyber Warfare

Intercept at the George C. Marshall Center: Speaking on Hybrid Threats and Cyber Warfare

Next month CEO of Intercept Technologies, Joe McCann will be speaking at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch on hybrid threats and cyber warfare — part of the Center's four-week resident course, Hybrid Threats and Cybersecurity, running 6–31 July 2026.

It's a return to a forum that matters. The Marshall Center sits at the intersection of NATO, national defence establishments, and the practitioners who actually have to plan for and respond to contested, multidomain environments. The course brings together mid-level security professionals from across allied and partner nations to move past theory and focus on implementation: strategic analysis, defence planning, applied scenario exercises, and translating policy into real capability.

That last point is where Joe will be focusing his contribution. There's no shortage of strategy documents on hybrid threats. What's harder — and what Intercept works on every day — is turning policy into something operational: detection that works across tenants, threat intelligence that's explainable rather than a black box, and response that holds up when an adversary is moving laterally through critical national infrastructure.

The week Joe is contributing to also overlaps with the AIMS (Artificial Intelligence Meets Security) Annual Retreat, which brings AI researchers and security practitioners together to work through where artificial intelligence genuinely changes the defensive picture — and where it's hype. Having heard some content from AIMS previously, I can say the value is in the candour. The people in that room build and operate these systems; the conversation is honest about what works.

For Intercept, engagements like this aren't a marketing exercise. Ireland's strategic positioning — within the EU, on the Ireland–UK–US corridor, and as host to critical infrastructure and data — means hybrid and cyber resilience is a live national question, not an abstract one. NIS2, DORA, and the wider EU regulatory framework are reshaping how organisations across the bloc think about resilience. Being in the room where allied defence thinking is shaped helps us bring that perspective back to our clients in the public sector, defence-adjacent organisations, fintech, and aerospace.

More to follow from Garmisch.

Joe McCann is founder and CEO of Intercept Technologies.

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