Dear Coalition member,
Despite the unprecedented situation in which we find ourselves, I hope you had a pleasant summer holiday and were able to recharge your batteries.
The global coronavirus pandemic is affecting our families, our businesses, our communities, and our way of life. I want to reach out and update you on how we are approaching the situation at the Cyber Security Coalition.
We have postponed some of our in-person events such as our lustrum celebration while turning others into virtual events, as we did with the Cloud Security and GDPR Experience Sharing Events. Supported by our Operations Office, the focus groups, too, were able to cooperate through digital channels as much as possible. To help the focus groups connect remotely, we are making our Microsoft Office 365 collaboration platform available for them.
While all of us are navigating these uncharted waters, we have been able to pursue our experience sharing mission, as illustrated by the almost 600 participations in our webinars over the past months. A novelty is the creation of a private web space where you can (re)watch the webinars at your convenience. We also encourage you to feed the Coalition blog page with useful content to share with other members.
The ‘Clean up your data campaign’ launched last June is a nice example of synergy between focus groups. Data cleaning does not have to be limited to spring. We encourage you to pay well-deserved attention to this campaign in the autumn as well. The preparation of the sixth national awareness campaign is in its final stage. This year’s central theme is the Two-Factor Authentication. We count on your support to maximize the campaign’s reach.
Together with Agoria the Coalition has set up an interactive cyber security track for the Digital Connect Week, which fits perfectly well in the European Cyber Security Month. The large number of registrations for the second edition of the ‘Cyber Security Awareness & Culture Manager’ course shows great enthusiasm for this instructive initiative by members for members.
Given the circumstances it will however not be possible to organize the Belgian Cyber Security Convention on October 28th. While we are disappointed that we will not meet in-person for the time being, we are still excited to pursue the organization of digital events. Regardless of location, health situation, or government policies, you can still reach out to us with any concerns, questions, or ideas for sharing with the community.
Since our last General Assembly our community has continued to grow. We are proud to welcome Approach, EURid, Lineas, UGent, and two hospitals Jan Yperman and OLVZ Asse-Aalst-Ninove as new members. Further, Marc Decaffmeyer joined us as an associate member.
Unfortunately, we say goodbye to Sofie De Moerloose, who managed the Coalition’s Operations for the last four years and has decided to pursue new career possibilities at Proximus. We have grown used to Sofie’s considerate nature and great commitment, so we will miss her much. I wish to express my sincere thanks to Sofie for her many and valuable contributions to the success of the Coalition and encourage you to share your words of appreciation directly with her as well. At the same time I am pleased to announce that Christian Mathijs from Proximus will soon join the Operations Office as from October 1st. Christian can bow on many years of experience as Professional Security Services Manager & Product Line Manager at Proximus and is eager to assume the role of Business Development & Marketing Manager. Cathy Suykens continues her role as Operations Manager and will be overall responsible for the Operations Office. Last, the recruitment of a Communication Manager (see target operating model presented during the General Assembly) is ongoing.
I wish you all the best and thank you for your support. Please, stay healthy and safe.
Best regards,
Jan De Blauwe
Chairman
