Vienna Cyber Security Week 2018

I’ve spend last week in Vienna at the annual intergovernmental conference focused on protecting critical energy infrastructure.

The first two days were dedicated to the issues of security and diplomacy.

A number of panel discussions, talks and workshops covered the following topics:

• Implementing the EU strategy for safe, open and secure cyberspace
• Cyber-threats to critical energy infrastructure
• Operational resilience
• Reducing the risks of conflicts stemming from the use of cyber-capabilities
• Cyber-diplomacy: developing capacity and trust between states

For the rest of the conference we moved from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna to Tech Gate, a science and technology park and home to a number of local cyber startups.

We’ve discussed trends in technology and cyber security, participated in Cyber Range simulation tutorial and a scenario-based exercise on policy development to address the growing cyber-threat to the energy sector.

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology together with WKO Austrian Economic Chambers, ASW Austrian Defence and Security Industry, and the Austrian Cyber Security Cluster hosted a technology exhibition of latest solutions and products as well as R&D projects.

Participants had an opportunity to see state-of-the-art of next generation solutions and meet key experts in the field of cyber security for protecting critical infrastructures to fight against cyber-crime and terrorism.

Talks continued throughout the week with topics covering:

• Securing the energy economy: oil, gas, electricity and nuclear
• Emerging and future threats to digitalised energy systems
• Cyber security standards in critical energy infrastructure
• Public sector, industry and research cooperation in cyber security
• Securing critical energy infrastructures by understanding global energy markets

The last day focused on innovation and securing the emerging technologies. The CIO of City of Vienna delivered an insightful presentation about on cities and security implications of digitalisation.  A closing panel discussed projected trends and emerging areas of technology, approaches and methods for verifying and securing new technologies and the future of the cyber threat.