Cyber ranges and exercises have been gaining in popularity over the last couple of years as a means to validate organisational capabilities and capacities. Increased fields of utilisation are being explored and there is a consensus on the benefits of human capacity building along with an assessment of the level of cyber resilience.

CONVERGENCE Session

The panel discussion will focus on the current and future state of the EU cyber range and exercise market.

Speakers:
  • Georges Ataya, Solvay
  • Almerindo Graziano, Silensec
  • Fabio di Franco, ENISA
  • Ioannis Askoxylakis, DG CONNECT
  • Csaba Virág, Guardtime
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Georges Ataya, Solvay

Professor Georges Ataya is the founder and academic director of IT and information security management education at Solvay Executive Education. He is the founder and vice-president of the Belgian Cybersecurity Coalition and also managing director of Ataya & Partners, an advisory firm. In the past he has been international vice president at the Research Foundation ISACA.org (Illinois), a partner at Ernst & Young and general manager technology and security risk services as well as deputy international CIO for ITT World Directories.  He gained a Master in Computer Science from the Faculty of Sciences at ULB, and was a postgraduate in management at Solvay Brussels School ULB. He is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), a Certified Information security Manager (CISM) and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). He is also Certified in Risk and Control (CRISC) and in Governance of Enterptise IT (CGEIT).

Almerindo Graziano, Silensec

Silensec CEO, Dr Almerindo Graziano (aka Al) holds an MSc in Electronic Engineering and a PhD in mobile computer security, both from the University of Naples. For five years he also been the founder and course leader for the MSc in Information Systems Security at Sheffield Hallam University, in collaboration with the British Standard Institution (BSI). He has personally authored a number of training courses from ethical hacking to intrusion detection, along with the first ISO 27001 lead implementer certification course offered by BSI worldwide. He has consulted in information security for private and government organisations across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Al is passionate about information security at 360 degrees but his heart beats a little faster when talking about IDS, WAFs, SIEM and log management technologies incident management and corporate security defence. When he is not working he can be found riding on two wheels, either on his mountain bike or motor bike.

Fabio di Franco, ENISA

Fabio di Franco joined ENISA in 2017 and currently his role focuses on advising the European Union and the Member States on research needs in cybersecurity with a view to enabling effective responses to the current and emerging threats. He is also the project manager for supporting the Member States in cybersecurity skill development, both by identifying current initiatives and by developing new technical training to support state-of-the-art information network and security capabilities. Fabio has a PhD in telecommunication engineering and  is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

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Ioannis Askoxylakis, DG CONNECT

Dr Ioannis G. Askoxylakis has been Cybersecurity Policy Officer at DG CONNECT since 2018. Before joining the European Commission he was professor at Ecole des Ponts Business School in Paris (2018), senior Researcher and head of FORTH CERT (2002-2018), member of the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy Plenary (2016-2018), professor of cybersecurity and IoT at Bournemouth University (2015-2018) and research fellow in 5G and IoT security at City University London (2015). In the past he has served as national representative in DG CONNECT’s Future Internet Forum of Member States and Associated Countries (2009-2013), as a member of the Permanent Stakeholders Group of ENISA (2009-2012) and as a member of the technical advisory committee of the Hellenic Ministry of Administrative Reform and e-governance (2011-2014). His interests lie in the fields of system and communication security, computer security incident response, IoT security and emergency response communications. He is the editor of eight cybersecurity books and the author of more than 50 publications in international journals and conference proceedings. He has organised and chaired several prestigious international cybersecurity conferences and workshops and has coordinated and participated in more than 20 European funded R&D projects. He holds a Diploma in Physics from the University of Crete, a M.Sc in Communication Engineering from the Technical University of Munich and a PhD in Secure and Resilient Communications for Emergency Response from the University of Bristol.

Csaba Virág, Guardtime

Csaba Virág has more than a decade of experience in strategic, technical and administrative layers of the IT sector, as well as in the security domain as an ethical hacker, cybersecurity professional and private sector subject matter expert. Up to the summer of 2015, Csaba was leading several security-sensitive IT developments, mainly focusing on critical infrastructures like transportation, healthcare, and the telecommunication sector.  Since then, he has been focusing on cybersecurity and cyber defence related operational and capacity building activities. Csaba is currently the Head of Capacity Building at Guardtime, Estonia, focusing on developing and delivering high impact cyber resilience building solutions through applicable cyber threat intelligence, cyber exercises and competence building, red teaming for both the civilian and military domains. Csaba is involved in various EU level and international projects on behalf of Guardtime, acts as an expert for the ITU global cyber drill series, is a member of the ENISA Advisory Group and the ECSO Board of Directors and is coordinator of Cyber Range Focus Group.