Shannon Parker | Deloitte, INC.
Conference Session
Incident Response in Policing: What the Cybersecurity Numbers Are Telling Us and Why It Matters
Ransomware attacks on police departments are no longer hypothetical – they’re happening with increasing frequency and impact. In this session, we’ll walk through breach response experiences from two real-world incidents involving law enforcement agencies, offering a behind-the-scenes look at how these crises unfolded and what we can learn from them.
We’ll explore:
-What the numbers say about the scale and speed of cyber threats
-Common gaps and vulnerabilities exploited in policing environments
-The true cost of a breach: downtime, disruption, insurance, and beyond
-Challenges specific to policing, including privacy, chain of custody, and digital evidence
-Practical strategies to prepare, respond, and recover more effectively
This session is designed for police and public safety leaders who want to better understand the evolving risks, and take actionable steps to safeguard their organizations before it’s too late.
Shannon Parker, B.A., B.ED.
Director | National Incident Response Team
Deloitte, INC.
A proven leader and visionary on the international cybersecurity and cybercrime stage, Shannon is passionate about bringing the right people together and finding solutions to complex business problems and issues related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).
She has been recognized by the CATA Alliance, Shared Services Canada, and Invest Ottawa as one of the top 20 STEM leaders in Canada. Most recently, The Female Quotient and Deloitte named her one of 25 Global Leaders in Cybersecurity: Canadian Women Leading the Way.
Shannon is currently a Director at Deloitte on the Cybersecurity Incident Response team. She leads national and international teams that respond to cybersecurity incidents. These complex engagements involve containment of cyber incidents, investigation and forensic analysis of digital evidence, short- and long-term restoration planning, and ensuring the return to trusted and secure environments post-breach. In addition to breach response, her teams help organizations strengthen their overall cyber resiliency.
A retired law enforcement member, Shannon previously served as Chair of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police E-Crimes Cyber Council and was an advisory member of the National Policing Services Cyber Council.
She has played a key role in the creation and development of the National Cybercrime Coordination Unit as a National Policing Service. She also led the teams that developed the national cybercrime data collection model for Canadian law enforcement in partnership with Statistics Canada, and collaborated with international partners, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to create the North American Cyber Classification Compendium.
Shannon has represented both Canadian law enforcement and Deloitte as a speaker and keynote presenter at numerous international conferences. Notable appearances include speaking on cybersecurity at the International Cybersecurity Conference at Europol in The Hague, Netherlands, and at the Vancouver Anti-Corruption Institute’s Combating Crypto Crime Colloquium alongside former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell.
She has served on the national expert panel for the Council of Canadian Academies Board of Directors, chaired by former Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart, Q.C. The panel was tasked with authoring a federal government report on the impacts of technological advancement on public safety in Canada. Shannon has also contributed articles to the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, Manitoba Association of Chiefs of Police, and Industry West magazines.
Shannon was formerly an internationally certified digital forensic examiner (CFCE), qualified in both Provincial and King’s Bench courts, and is a certified cryptocurrency tracing analyst. She holds multiple certifications in mobile device and digital forensics. Her investigative experience includes years of work in child exploitation cases and technology-facilitated crimes, including both instrument and target-based offences.
A former high school teacher, Shannon designed and delivered programs for at-risk youth in secondary school settings. She also developed and taught a Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, and OSINT Investigators Course for law enforcement, covering topics such as: cybersecurity awareness, digital footprints, intelligence gathering, key OSINT techniques, browser and search engine analysis, video analysis, vehicle telematics, geolocation, network architecture, covert accounts, deep and dark web investigations, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and the forensic lifecycle.
Shannon is also a former U Sports athlete, dedicated community volunteer, basketball coach, and Chair of Cops for Cancer. She is a leader who brings her authentic self to work each day—curious, fearless, collaborative, and calm in the chaos. She lives in Saskatoon with her husband and two children, and enjoys time at the cabin, reading, puzzling, and relaxing with family.