The professionalisation of the Cyber Security Coalition over the past decade has brought a great deal of additional dynamism to Belgium’s cyber security ecosystem. This has also made membership attractive to foreign players, in particular as it provides a context to reflect on the central challenges within the field, says Karim Azer-Nessim, Director of Cyber Security at Sopra Steria.
"Membership helps us to better understand the Belgian ecosystem"
“We’ve been part of the Coalition for several years. When we joined, it was still clearly in its early stages,” says Azer-Nessim. “Since then, the Coalition has grown significantly—not only in scale but also in quality. Today, the level of expertise and collaboration at both events and workshops is very high, delivering a solid added value to members like us.”
Knowledge and insight into the ecosystem
Sopra Steria is a French company with 60,000 employees, operating internationally as a cyber security provider across diverse sectors. Over the past few years, it has grown into a leading player in Europe. “Sopra Steria has always been a trusted partner to a wide array of clients. Recent developments, including mergers last year, have further strengthened our market position. We’ve enhanced our capabilities and expanded our footprint, including engaging in larger-scale projects with bigger clients,” he adds. “Our Coalition membership helps us get to know and better understand the Belgian ecosystem.”
This value goes far beyond purely commercial motives. The Coalition is also an expert platform, a community, that provides a context to consider the challenges within the growing ecosystem. “For instance, as an IT integrator that can provide encryption solutions and capacities tailored to customers’ specific needs, Sopra Steria participates in the Cryptography Focus Group. In this group, we discuss various topics such as the evolution of post-quantum encryption (PQC), its application, and objectives that we can achieve with such technology. This is a central issue in our field,” he says.
Data control
Data control is another essential issue that will become even more prominent in the future Coalition’s context. “While we will, of course, continue using large hyperscalers in the future, and we acknowledge their quality, we believe it is also crucial to invest in the development of European alternatives,” he states. “This will be necessary if we want fulfil Europe’s geopolitical ambitions.”
However, turning this goal into concrete actions is not straightforward. “In practice, I see that many local and supranational organisations still choose partnerships with non-EU partners because of the scalability and integration possibilities,” he explains. “But doing so limits European cloud alternatives, and hampers their ability to develop further. And, to some extent, this impedes the goal of reducing dependency.”
Azer-Nessim stresses the need for greater attention to these issues in the coming years. “Geopolitical realities and the rapid expansion of AI underscore the importance of sovereignty and data control. As more data is consolidated and repurposed for various applications, ensuring this control will be crucial,” he concludes.
