2021: ACTIVITY REPORT OF THE CYBER SECURITY COALITION
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2021 has been a year with a further acceleration of our digital transformation. At the same time cyber threats have been on the rise with increasingly extensive and serious attacks. In order to better arm our country against cyber crime the federal government adopted a cyber security strategy 2.0 in May to make Belgium one of the least vulnerable countries in Europe in terms of cyber security by 2025.
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Alexander De Croo
Prime Minister of Belgium
"Cyber threats were clearly increasing in 2021, but Belgium can be proud of its efforts to deal with this relatively new form of crime," describes Miguel De Bruycker, Managing Director of the Centre for Cyber Security Belgium (CCB). "Great strides have been made in both vision and strategy."
Miguel De Bruycker
Managing Director of the Centre for Cyber Security Belgium and Vice-President of the Cyber Security Coalition
It’s a fact: several international studies show that Belgium is one of the best-performing countries in Europe for cyber security. For example, our country came in third in the recent National Cyber Security Index (NCSI). In terms of incident numbers, as well, we are certainly no worse off than our neighbouring countries. In other words, the prevailing perception that Belgium lags behind in digitalisation and cyber security expertise does not align with the reality.
Successful efforts
"Importantly, we clearly see that the initiatives set up around cyber security are having a noticeable effect," explains De Bruycker. "In the spring of 2021, for example, we had an above-average number of vulnerable Exchange servers. Our comprehensible communication ensured that this number dropped sharply in only a few weeks. We now have a well below-average number of such vulnerable Exchange servers."
This result shows the CCB’s improvements in reaching the Belgian population. Miguel De Bruycker comments: "We get about 12,000 messages a day, which proves that there is confidence in our operation. Our channel Safeonweb is becoming more and more of a brand. In addition, from the start we have focused on raising awareness amongst the population, while neighbouring countries were focusing on the institutions. In the context of accelerated digitalisation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, this focus on the citizen has proven to be the right choice."
A new Belgian cyber security strategy
The most important initiative that the CCB co-launched in 2021 was the renewed Belgian cyber security strategy, which aims to make Belgium one of the least vulnerable countries in Europe. "That is a very clear mission, and immediately differentiates from previous plans. Major steps have been taken in terms of vision and strategy," explains De Bruycker.
"Our goal is to better arm companies and users, and thus lower vulnerability. For this purpose, we will soon launch a portal for companies, as well as a new contact centre for all users. For the rest, the focus is mainly on knowledge exchange."
In order to achieve these goals, additional police and judicial capacity to deal with cyber criminals must be put in place. In other words, the government still has work to do. Miguel De Bruycker concludes, "The Internet is not a public space, so the government has to find its role there. Given the limited resources in particular, this requires both governance and leadership. Sometimes it is unclear who is driving the car. But steps are being taken, and thanks to the cyber security strategy, we at least have a clear direction."