Official Opening Cyber Security Week 2017

The top Dutch cyber specialists from government, businesses and knowledge institutions met this morning at The Hague Security Delta (HSD) Campus for the official opening of the second edition of the Cyber Security Week. The message was loud and clear: with economic losses amounting to 10 billion as a result of cybercrime in the past year, cyber security is one of the most urgent issues of today. Our digital resilience should be high on everyone’s agenda and this requires sufficient numbers of trained cyber security and IT-talent.

During the opening, Inge Philips, director of Cyber Security at accounting firm Deloitte, presented the first copy of the report Cyber Value at Risk to Maarten Camps, secretary-general of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. The report reveals that the loss of value suffered by the Dutch economy as a whole due to cyber risks totals 10 billion euros, 1.3% of the GNP. Annual losses suffered by SMEs are estimated at 1 billion euros.

In his presentation, Wim Kuijken, chairman of the HSD board, went on to emphasise the need for government, businesses and knowledge institutions to work together, both nationally and internationally.

This was followed by a panel discussion involving Dick Schoof (National Coordinator Counter Terrorism and Security), Jos Nijhuis (CEO Schiphol and chairman of the Cyber Security Council), André Haspels (Director-General Political Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and Saskia Bruines (Deputy Mayor Knowledge Economy, International, Youth and Education from the municipality of The Hague).

After the panel discussion, HackLab Kids started in which a group of primary school children emphasised the Access to Talent theme of this first day of Cyber Security Week.

Deputy mayor Saskia Bruines: “There is a rapidly rising demand for well qualified personnel in the field of cyber security. For that reason, it is also important to teach children digital skills from a very early age. From primary school to university, promoting cyber talent must be high on the agenda.”

Richard Franken, executive director HSD: “The Cyber Security Week is a great example of how we as a national security cluster and our partners can stimulate cooperation and knowledge exchange. Nationally and internationally. So that together we can contribute to a more secure world and economic growth. ‘Together we secure the future’.”

Cyber Security Week
Cyber Security Week takes place from 25 to 29 September in 17 different locations in The Hague and consists of 80 events in which hundreds of experts in the field of Internet security and cybercrime from the government, industry and science can exchange knowledge, discuss the latest developments and pitch new innovative ideas. Together they will seek innovative solutions to one of the greatest challenges in our modern digital world: how do we guarantee a secure cyber future for ourselves?
The event is expected to attract over 3000 visitors to The Hague.

Participants in Cyber Security Week include Europol, INTERPOL, NATO, representatives from various European security clusters from the UK, Belgium, Germany and France, among others, international City-CIOs & CISOs and many large and small businesses specialising in cyber security.

Important events during Cyber Security Week are the Europol-INTERPOL cybercrime conference and the final of the EC-Council hacking competition Global CyberLympics.

Cyber Security Week is an initiative of The Hague Security Delta, the city of The Hague, InnovationQuarter, The Conference The Hague and accounting firm Deloitte and is organised together with 80 partners.

More information about the programme is available at: www.cybersecurityweek.nl
Social: #CSW17

Video: Opening Cyber Security Week 2017

Photo: From left to right;

Saskia Bruines, Deputy-Mayor Municipality The Hague

André Haspels, Director-General Political Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Jos Nijhuis, Co-Chairman Cyber Security Council

Dick Schoof, National Coordinator Combat Terrorism and Security

Inge Philips, Director Cybersecurity with Advisory Bureau Deloitte

Richard Franken, Executive Director HSD

Read the official press release in Dutch.