Peter O'Brien is pleased to welcome Simon McGarr, Lawyer with McGarr Solicitors in Dublin, and Managing Director of Data Compliance Europe. Cybersecurity is no longer simply a question of whether governments possess adequate technical defences, explains McGarr. AI is altering those risks at extraordinary speed, placing capabilities once associated with states or sophisticated criminal organizations within reach of much smaller actors. If threats evolve month by month, governments must focus on prevention: identifying vulnerabilities, adapting defenses and developing long-term institutional capacity before emerging threats become crises.