Cybersecurity Awards 2024: CISO of the year (L-R): Cédric Mauny (CLUSIL), Guy Isler (Jury President), Jean-Guy Roche, Matthieu Jungers (representing Luc Cottin), Franck Bedell (Jury Vice-President);
On Thursday 24 October 2024, the 8th edition of the Cybersecurity Week Luxembourg Gala & Awards Night took place at the Parc Hotel Alvisse in Luxemourg-Dommeldange, where five winners were honoured for their achievements in 2024.
Luxembourg's Minister of the Economy, Lex Delles, who was abroad at the time of the event, addressed the audience via a video message, stressing the importance of cybersecurity as an economic asset in our digital and data-driven society and thanking all those involved, from near and far, in the national cybersecurity campaign that takes place every year in October (this year, seven institutional events were organised in this context, targeting various sectors of activity from finance to education and the industry).
François Thill, Director of Cybersecurity at the Ministry of the Economy, and Pascal Steichen, Founder and CEO of the Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity, both reflected on the past and future successes of CYBERSECURITY Luxembourg, the national cybersecurity ecosystem.
For the first time, the annual ceremony was directly linked to the annual hack.lu conference dedicated to the information security community, the organises of which attracted 500+ people from all over the world, counting on 75+ speakers and fifteen sponsors and partners.
Linking the two events was intended to connect all worlds – as cybersecurity is a global issue that requires a collaborative approach at all levels (academia, business, government, etc.).
The gala was an opportunity to bring together profiles from all horizons. In keeping with tradition, five award winners were honoured during the ceremony. The award “Best Paper at hack.lu” went to Pedro Umbelino for “Blowing up gas stations for fun and profit”.
After placing 27th in the European Cybersecurity Challenge 2024, TeamLU was honoured as Luxembourg’s Most Promising Young Talents. This award is supported by the Directorate of Defence, which also offered the CyberRange to the team in order to prepare for the upcoming challenge.
Cortex Security S.A., represented by its CEO Ziya Genç who participated in the Fit4Start competition this year, received the Cybersecurity Startup Award, selected by LHC: the award goes to one of the startups running in the Fit4Start programme and comes with support from the LHC.
The DPO of the Year was announced by the previously awarded DPOs, Maximilien Spielmann (DPO of the Year 2022) and Julien Winkin (DPO of the Year 2023) and it went to Claudio Orlando Miele, DPO at Forvis Mazars Luxembourg, for its innovative approach to the role of DPO.
The awards ceremony was concluded with the presentation of the new CISO of the Year 2024, who will represent an entire community for a year and receives a free one year membership to CLUSIL. Guy Isler (CISO of the Year 2022) and Frank Bedell (CISO of the Year 2023) bestowed Luc Cottin, CEO of Rsecure, with this honour and responsibility.
To celebrate the winners of the evening and give the community a chance to connect in a relaxed environment, the evening continued with drinks, a walking dinner and a live band.
