(L-R): Pascal Steichen, Director of Securitymadein.lu; Francine Closener, Secretary of State for Economy; Credit: Securitymadein.lu

On Thursday 12 October 2017, Luxembourg's Secretary of State for Economy, Francine Closener, participated in the official opening of the C3, the national competence centre in cybersecurity. This structure is based in part on the experience, skills and know-how acquired by government initiatives such as CASES (promotion of information security in companies) and CIRCL (coordination and post-incidents), both of which are part of the national security promotion platform Securitymadein.lu.

Addressing all public and private sector players and even start-ups, the new C3 centre brings together under one roof the three fundamental pillars of digital security:

• a threat and vulnerability observatory: The Centre provides not only technical information, but also an overview of contextualized threats and protection mechanisms, as well as key measures and figures needed for good governance.

• a training centre and its simulation platform: The centre provides a simulator of attack scenarios, allowing realistic operational training.

• a laboratory to test new digital products and solutions: In particular, safe products developed by start-ups will be tested in this laboratory. The tests will be used to check the effectiveness of a product against a multitude of computer attacks.

The objectives of the Competence Centre are, on the one hand, to increase Luxembourg's cybersecurity competitive advantage in the short term and, in the medium term, to contribute to the development of ecosystems emerging in areas such as Internet Objects (Internet of Things - IoT), space technologies and FinTech

At the official opening, Secretary of State Closener said "The C3 centre stands out for its unprecedented innovative character, relying in particular on learning by practice in real simulations. The new centre thus promotes skill development and strengthens companies' ability to effectively protect themselves from cyber attacks and to respond to crisis situations. I am also delighted that C3 is offering start-ups the opportunity to test and validate their innovative solutions and ideas in the field of cybersecurity and thus gain credibility in the market."