Tony Neate

Managing Director, Get Safe Online

Tony started his career in law enforcement in 1976 when he became a Police Officer with the South Wale Police. Having been a detective for 30 years he has dealt with all aspects of serious crime, from theft to murder, rape and extortion to fraud and armed robbery.

In 1989 Tony moved to the Commercial Fraud Squad where for over six years he ran investigations into large-scale serious and organised fraud.  These included corporate computer fraud, major investment fraud, long firm fraud, large-scale credit card abuse, as well as public sector corruption and election fraud.

In 1995 he became heavily involved in the investigation of hi-tech crime. He set up the Hi-Tech Crime Unit within South Wales Police, being one of a handful of digital evidence examiners in the country. He subsequently dealt with numerous computer-related offences including hacking, online child abuse, denial of service attacks, cyber stalking, email abuse and Phishing.

In 2001, he took up the Industry Liaison position within the newly formed National Hi-Tech Crime Unit based in London.  The unit was the lynchpin in the United Kingdom’s co-ordinated response to cyber-crime. His role within the Unit was to form a coordinated partnership with industry, to ease the flow of information between the private sector and law enforcement regarding hi-tech crime.

After a career spanning 30 years, on the 30th September 2006 Tony retired from the Police Service and took up his new position within the Cabinet Office as the Managing Director for the Get Safe Online initiative. Tony also acts as a consultant on hi-tech crime and security matters.

Nick McGrath

Head of Platform Strategy, Microsoft

Nick McGrath was appointed Director of Platform Strategy for Microsoft Ltd in 2003.  He has responsibility for marketing Microsoft’s platform of technologies to customers, partners and media. Nick also holds the position of Head of the Security Mobilisation Initiative at Microsoft Ltd and represents Microsoft on the steering committee for Get Safe Online.

Nick has spent nearly twelve years at Microsoft and has filled a number of senior roles during this time.  He joined the company as an applications engineer before moving to his first Product Manager role – for Windows Client – in 1996.  In 1999 he moved over to be Product Manager for Windows Server and, in 2001, was appointed Group Marketing Manager for Windows.  In this role, Nick and his team launched Microsoft Windows XP. He then spent a year as Group Marketing Manager (Northern Europe) for Microsoft’s OEM division before being appointed to his current role in July 2003.

Garreth Griffith is PayPal’s Head of Risk Management in the UK and Ireland. He is tasked with protecting PayPal’s customers (buyers, sellers, small and large merchants) in these countries from all kinds of fraudulent activity, as well as coordinating efforts with other PayPal teams around the globe. This involves the development of tools and processes to minimise fraudulent activity on the sites, and significant educational work to increase awareness of online security risks and preventive behaviour.

A significant portion of the role is devoted to collaborating with global Law Enforcement to investigate cases and bring online criminals to justice. PayPal’s Law Enforcement Affairs team cooperates with prosecutory authorities around the world, leading to multiple arrests every month.

Garreth has represented PayPal as a Director for Get Safe Online since 2004, leading the development of the Get Safe Online website in 2005.