Belgian PM visits national Centre for Cybersecurity

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo increased his cyber security know-how during a working visit to the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) on Wednesday.

Cyber security threats against companies, citizens and governments have developed at a rapid pace in recent years. Therefore, the budget for the CCB was doubled in the current legislature. It was established in 2015 with just two employees. The number of employees now stands at 100 and will rise to 120 early next year.

De Croo was allowed to visit the centre's 'war room'. There, alerts come in and suspicious domain names and threats are detected. It is part of the concept of active cyber protection, which, like hackers, actively searches for the country's vulnerable systems and alerts their owners.

"It is a unique system that is currently not implemented anywhere else in the world. We have written to and addressed more than 5,000 companies in the third quarter of this year because of the vulnerability in one of their systems. And we want to increase that in the coming year," says Miguel De Bruycker, director of the CCB

Federal investment in cyber security receives up to 50 million euros of federal investments on a yearly basis. The prime minister is pleased with the result. "We have created one of the most secure environments in Europe and that is thanks to the talent we have here. The ambition is to be one of the least vulnerable countries in the world," stated De Croo.

(TOM)

^{© BELGA PHOTO HATIM KAGHAT}