The European Union believes in it: 9 billion euros for digital

(To Alessandro Rugolo)

28/01/19

It was held in Lille, the 22 and 23 January 2019, the eleventh edition of the FIC (Forum international de la Cybersécurité), an event of international importance.
To understand the size of the event, let's see a few numbers:
- 8600 participants;
- 350 partners;
- 80 countries represented.
Hundreds of companies took to the field alongside French government organizations and universities and research institutions. Appreciable effort is made to face the subject from all points of view.

In addition to the usual opportunity to visit exhibitors' stands in which to find products, services and training, the FIC saw the involvement of young people through activities focused on the search for vulnerability on a specially designed environment but also on "bug hunting" on software and real systems.

Interesting the various panels that have seen confronting characters linked to each other by the common feeling of challenge that the cyber space represents for society: a challenge that we can not refuse.

From a cultural point of view, a prize was organized for the most interesting book, while between one panel and another it was possible to appreciate the ironic videos on cyber. Especially popular with the public is that of Marcel (see below), a nice clip on the "intrusiveness" of data hunters in the modern world.

Effective participation of the French political world has come in force to illustrate the steps taken and support the need to move forward without delay.
Note the speech by the European Commissioner for the digital economy and society, Mariya Gabriel, who briefly summarized the European interventions of the last year on cyber matters and announced the investments for the future and the proposed changes to the institutions ( among these ENISA) in order to better face the new challenges. The European Commissioner recalled that nowadays in Europe there are no professional figures in the world of cyber security, it is estimated that there are about 300.000 vacant positions and that they will become 500.000 in the 2020.

According to a study by the Netherlands Government, Europe does not spend more than 1,5 billion in the Cyber sector, which is one tenth of what the United States does. The investment of 2 billion on the program will be required for the future European budget Horizon 2020 but another program will be launched: "Digital Europe", equipped with a fund of 9 billions of euros. Inside, the part dedicated to cyber will be 2 billion.

It seems that the foundations have finally been laid to allow the development of a European computer security industry, now the ball passes to all those who can and want to participate in the challenge. And at a time when the individual states seem to be pressing on other priorities, this is an opportunity not to be missed!