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With the launch of its new concept, the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and its Enterprise Europe Network reinforced their presence at The Cybersecurity Week Luxembourg 2022 (CSWL) organized by The Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity. This event in the framework of the European Cybersecurity Month took place on 19-20 October 2022 at the Congress & Exhibition Center LUXEXPO – The Box. CSWL 2023 brought together key players of the Luxembourg and European cybersecurity ecosystem and involved more than 500 physical participants, such as security experts, businessmen and decision-makers.
Further to the success of its past editions, the Enterprise Europe Network of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce organized the conference “Cybersecurity4Success 2022 - Supporting SMEs in their cyber-resilience”. The conference was organised with the objective to sensitise companies on the importance to have a proactive strategy on the implementation of an IT security strategy in their businesses. The conference welcomed keynote speeches followed by a cross border round table that focused on the European digital compass and best practices of the Greater Region.
During their speeches, Ms. Sabrina Sagramola, Manager International Affairs & National Coordinator of the Enterprise Europe Network – Luxembourg, and Mr. Gilles Reding, Director Consulting and Services of the Luxembourg Chamber of Crafts, emphasised the threat posed by cyber-attacks to SMEs and stated that cybersecurity is no longer an option or even a choice, but a strategic necessity.
Furthermore, Ms. Sabrina Sagramola underlined the fact that cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their cyberattacks and are taking advantage of the vulnerability of businesses impacted by the current difficult economic situation. A cyber-attack can very quickly turn out to be very serious and costly for the companies affected, especially when they are smaller structures. It is therefore essential to continue to raise the awareness of company directors and their employees of the challenges of IT security and to provide them with a framework of good practices and procedures to be implemented in order to acquire agile reflexes and to invest in efficient tools to protect themselves.
During her Keynote Speech, Ms. Despina Spanou, Head of Cabinet of the Vice-President of the European Commission Maragritis Schinas, highlighted the new regulations announced by the European Commission that will strengthen the resilience of infrastructures and requirement in terms of security. Ms. Despina Spanou also highlighted the development of a European cybersecurity academy to train any citizen who wants to learn about cybersecurity. Finally, she also expressed the priority and willingness of the European Commission to train more women in the field of cyber-security.
Mr. Guy Keckhut moderated a round table discussion with cybersecurity experts form the Greater Region, namely, Benjamin Joly, Cybersecurity Advisor of the National Cybersecurity Competence Center Luxembourg, Jean-Charles Renaudin, Head of Cybersecurity Activities of Grand e-Nov+ (Grand Est), Michael Bachmann, Referent for Cybersecurity topics next to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digital and Energy, Saarland and Mr Axel Legay, Professor of the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, Electronics and Applied Mathematics (ICTM) (Wallonia).
All agreed on the virulence and sophistication of cyber-attacks and the dangers they represent for SMEs, which, according to Michael Bachmann affect, for 70 % of them, SMEs. They mentioned that the consequences of cyber-attacks could be quite painless, for well-prepared SMEs, because of the tools put in place by the competence centers in the regions.
For more information, the competence centers of the Greater Region are available under the following links: Cyber-Wal (Wallonia), Cispa (Saarland), Grand e-Nov+ (Grand Est), Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity (Luxembourg).
The Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and its Enterprise Europe Network also organised its International Business Meetings by b2fair® at the Cybersecurity Week for the first time this year. The meetings were aiming at fostering the exchange on information security, hacking, data protection, and broader topics of digital transformation. These business meetings targeted SMEs in the cybersecurity sector with an opportunity to explore international partnerships, as well as to get in contact with high-level IT security experts.
“We participated in the international business meetings by b2fair® during the Cybersecurity Week Luxembourg. Thanks to this international platform, we were able to make 10 connections. We will focus on following them in the following weeks”, - said Ms. Parré from GRC Luxembourg, a company that is active in the field of data protection advisory.
