Business Club Belgium-Luxembourg
On May 8, the Business Club Belgium-Luxembourg (BCBL) gathered over 60 participants from Luxembourg and Belgium, for its information seminar: “Belgium-Luxembourg: How to face cybersecurity challenges together”. The participants included companies active in the cybersecurity sector, BCBL member companies, as well as public authorities.
The BCBL, a joint initiative of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and the Luxembourg Embassy in Brussels, aims to offer companies of both countries a platform for exchange of best practices, networking and new business opportunities. The BCBL organized this conference in collaboration with SECURITYMADEIN.LU, the entity on which rely the three main information security initiatives of the Luxembourg government: CIRCL, CASES and BEE SECURE.
While cyber-attacks in Luxembourg are constantly increasing and Europol confirms the same trend at European level, cybersecurity and data protection has become a topic of vital importance and increased visibility in light of affairs like the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal and the implementation of GDPR.
The International Telecommunication Union released last month its Global Cybersecurity Index for the year 2018. This index is the leading public international benchmark for measuring the commitment of UN member countries to cybersecurity. Luxembourg ranks 11th out of 175 countries. This represents a large progress since the report in 2017 and reflects the efforts made in the field of cybersecurity by all public and private actors in Luxembourg. In general, Luxembourg’s cybersecurity strategy seeks to bolster public confidence in the digital environment, as well as enhance the security of information systems by improving the ability to identify cyber-attacks, protect digital infrastructures and raise stakeholders’ awareness of resilience.
The objective of the conference was to showcase the close collaboration between Luxembourg and Belgium that already exists in the sector of cybersecurity, and to contribute to the development of initiatives carried out by public and private actors in cybersecurity. The program included keynote presentations about the cybersecurity Ecosystem in Luxembourg, by Pascal Steichen, CEO of SECURITYMADEIN.LU and in Belgium, by Jan de Blauwe, Chairman of the Cybersecurity Coalition Belgium. These presentations were followed by a panel discussion with topics ranging from the evolving malware landscape, challenges of the cybersecurity skills landscape, to information about how to ensure that cloud solutions are secured. The panel included experts in cybersecurity: Georges Ataya from Solvay Business School, Dolores Perez from KBL European Private Bankers, Rosanna Kurrer from Cyberwayfinder, Philippe Dann from EBRC, Xavier Mertens Information Security Consultant, and was moderated by David Foy from Luxinnovation.
The conference was followed by a lively Q&A session and a networking reception during which all participants continued the fruitful conversations.
For information about future BCBL events please refer to the website www.bcbl.be.
