GMV joins forces with Andalusia’s cybersecurity strategy

GMV, as a benchmark cybersecurity firm, has taken part in the 2nd SEDIAN Day, a cybersecurity congress organized by Andalusia’s Regional Ministry of Economics, Knowledge, Entrepreneurship and Universities (Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad de la Junta de Andalucía), which brought together the sector’s most authoritative voices like Bernardo Quintero, Ángel Gómez de Ágreda, Mar López and Sergio de los Santos. GMV’s spokesperson was Javier Zubieta, who advocated the role of innovation, talent, entrepreneurship and cybersecurity as drivers of the digital economy.

Keynote speakers were Rogelio Velasco, Andalusia’s Regional Minister of Economics, Knowledge, Entrepreneurship and Universities, Luis Hidalgo, Institutional Relations Officer of the National Cybersecurity Institute (Instituto Nacional de Ciberseguridad: INCIBE) and Loreto del Valle, General Manager of Digital Security of Andalusia (Seguridad Digital de Andalucía: SEDIAN).

Bernardo Quintero and Sergio de los Santos talked about their own experiences of entrepreneurship, innovation and talent, illustrating the level of excellence of cybersecurity in Spain. The former is founder of Virus Total, a cybersecurity firm acquired by Google, and co-founder of Chronicle, the first cybersecurity firm of Alphabet (whose largest subsidiary is Google). The latter is innovation manager of Eleven Paths, Telefónica’s cybersecurity division and laboratory, and one of the few Spanish participants in London’s Black Hat Europe, the renowned cybersecurity summit.

Taking stock and spreading the word

In 2018 INCIBE reported 111,519 security incidents; 102,414 of these incidents affected companies and the public at large; 722 affected operators of critical infrastructure and 8383, the academic network (RedIRIS). Of this total 50.15% involved frauds; 24.23% were malware attacks and 24.23% information collection incidents. To confront them, INCIBE runs an incident response area with a 24 x 7 x 365 CERT using GMV services since its very foundation.

Such figures must be food for thought, at least, after which we need to spread awareness to minimize bad internet practices. Such stocktaking is done in the book entitled “Mundo Orwell. Manual de supervivencia para un mundo hiperconectado” (Orwell’s World; Survival Manual for a Hyper-connected World) written by the airforce colonel, Ángel Gómez de Ágreda, who was Chief of the Joint Cybersecurity Command, representing Spain in NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. The book delves into society’s relations with the new technologies: cyberwarfare, social media disinformation campaigns, employment and the irruption of the new robotics. In his SEDIAN-Day speech called “Towards an Orwell-like World?" the author talked through some of these issues, pointing out that digitalization and the new technologies can make our lives more comfortable, with the downside of jeopardizing individual liberty and security.

As guarantors of public liberties, therefore, governments lay down legislation to protect personal data. But governees too are duty bound to act with the same caution in the cyber world as in the real world. Training and awareness-raising are crucial here. Books like the Ciberdiccionario (cyber-dictionary), written by Javier Zubieta, Marketing and Communications Manger of GMV’s Secure eSolutions sector, GMV’s Digital Business Unit and cybersecurity expert, explain cybersecurity to the uninitiated, i.e. the great majority of today’s citizens.

In his SEDIAN-Day speech Javier stressed the cybersecurity sector’s huge career potential, ranging from executive jobs like CISO or CSO to data analysts, researchers and criminologists and also talked about the skillsets looked for today and the specific technical training needed: “empathy, communication skills and teamwork … dubbed the “Soft Skills” and a sine qua non of success nowadays”.

A Commitment to Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is today a top priority for the Regional Authority of Andalusia (Junta de Andalucía), as pointed out in the congress by Rogelio Velasco, Andalusia’s Regional Minister of Economics, Knowledge, Entrepreneurship and Universities. Small wonder: Andalusia is the Spanish region hardest hit by cyberattacks, with 8110 incidents reported in 2018 and 5800 so far in 2019, according to Loreto del Valle, General Manager of Digital Security of Andalusia (Seguridad Digital de Andalucía: SEDIAN).

The Junta de Andalucía, “comprising a total of 222,000 employees, 100 organizations and 10,000 head offices poses a stiff challenge in terms of guaranteeing the security of public services and transactions”. One of the latest initiatives to this end is the agreement entered into with the National Cryptology Center (Centro Criptológico Nacional: CNI) to draw up a new decree with the purpose of “strengthening the cyberattack resilience of the regional government” in Velasco’s words.

The Junta de Andalucía’s laudable efforts to bring cybersecurity into the very center of its defense strategy have received solid support from GMV. Not only speaking in the congress, it also ran a stand in the exhibition area to showcase its cybersecurity prowess and expertise, built up over two decades as it works to protect its customers and, ipso facto, the public at large.