ECSO contributes to the cybersecurity debate on education, unity and trust
The future of cybersecurity-related technologies, consumer education, trust and resilience: these were just some of the topics discussed by ECSO with leading policymakers, industry players, high level cybersecurity and defence experts at the 9th European Cyber Security conference, co-organised by ECSO and Forum Europe on the 24th of March. From talks to concrete actions, the path to follow for a strong, European cybersecurity ecosystem is now clearer.
ECSO had the pleasure to join in Brussels leading cybersecurity specialists from Europe and overseas to tackle the most pressing issues faced by the cybersecurity community, issues which have especially been intensified by the current war between Russia and Ukraine.
In fact, the conference explored in particular Europe’s response to cyber security issues and the next steps that all actors of the ecosystem should take to create a safe and secure environment, whilst allowing Europe to leverage on the tremendous socio-economic benefits offered by digital technologies.
The result from ECSO’s contribution was clear: we must continue to invest in education and foster unity and trust.
In a fireside chat between ECSO Secretary General, Luigi Rebuffi, and Darren Shou, Head of Technology at NortonLifeLock, education and inclusiveness where the pillars of the discussion around the policy, technological and societal implications that continuous tech innovations will have on the notion of ‘cybersecurity’ as we know it.
“It was a pleasure speaking to Darren. His views on cyber education and inclusiveness show us that humans are the ones who make the difference when it comes to cyber-attacks and breaches”, said Luigi Rebuffi. “The more we educate people and train them on how to recognise such threats, the less we will have to worry about cyber threats. This is why at ECSO we have been working a lot on the educational aspect of cybersecurity, with various initiatives aimed not only at educating users in different categories, but also to include more women in cybersecurity and make this sector more gender inclusive”, he added.
Trust was another important topic raised during the panel discussion moderated by ECSO and dedicated to the European Commission’s proposal to build a network of Security Operations Centres (SOCs) across the EU that would leverage AI and ML technologies to detect early signs of impending cyber-attacks and launch early preventative actions.
Together with Julie Ruff (European Commission), Carlos Córdoba (Head of Area for Cybersecurity Operation Centers, National Cryptologic Center, Spain), Leif Nixon (Security Expert from Sectra Communications) and Ilias Chantzos (Head of Government Affairs programmes EMEA at Broadcom), ECSO contributed to the discussion on how the establishment of this network of SOCs can concretely improve threat and incident detection, analysis and response, and the extent to which this network of SOCs will address the current fragmentation in information sharing between the public and private sectors.
“In a situation where we see such fragmentation, ECSO plays a key role in bringing together the public and private sector to identify and solve the existing gaps, may they be legal or technological ones”, said Mr. Rebuffi. “But above all, ECSO is here to try to work on a non-tangible, yet extremely important aspect: trust”, he added. Trust, in fact, was unanimously identified as the main aspect without which such fragmentation cannot be solved. “By facilitating the exchange of knowledge and (trusted) actions, at ECSO we have been collaborating with our Members to build concrete solutions. To this end, our latest action consists in the creation of a European network of CISOs, which we have recently launched in trial mode and which we hope to grow in the near future by involving more CISOs and providing this community with a trusted and secure environment that will ultimately strengthen Europe’s competitiveness in the cyber market”, he concluded.
ECSO’s goal is to provide concrete solutions for a united, autonomous and resilient European cybersecurity ecosystem, whilst supporting the needs of its Members. To learn more about ECSO’s initiatives and actions, and to join the movement, the ECSO Team invites you to visit www.ecs-org.eu and to subscribe to ECSO’s newsletter.
Don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter and to have a look at the upcoming conferences and events where you will have the chance to meet ECSO Team members.
