“There were already many events in Luxembourg around this issue and the idea was to group them in a dedicated week, which is part of the European cybersecurity month”, explains Pascal Steichen, CEO of Securitymadein.lu (Smile), which is a founding member of the event, alongside PwC, Excellium, Luxinnovation and the economy ministry.

The activities will be aimed at IT specialists as well as people working across all fields in a bid to ingrain precautionary practices within firms. Cyber attacks are becoming increasingly common and indiscriminate in the types of industries they target. According to Eurostat, 80% of European companies experienced at least one cyberattack in 2016.

“While the biggest companies are now aware of the importance of the stakes, this is less the case for Luxembourg SMEs”, Steichen explained.

Another focus of cybersecurity week will look at recruitment of specialists in this field. US company Cybersecurity Ventures predicts there will be 3.5 million cybersecurity specialists globally in 2021.

“We are in full recruitment, as the demand for this type of services is constantly increasing,” PwC Luxembourg director Ludovic Raymond said.

People have the possibility to gain training in this area via the University of Luxembourg, which offers two Masters in Information Security. The training offer in adult education is also growing, notably with the Fit4coding initiative.

The week will end with a gala on Friday where a chief information security officer of the year prize will be awarded.

Click here to view the full list of events being organised as part of Cybersecurity Week in Luxembourg.