On June 24th, CSCD’s Ambassadors Lounge hosted a Conference on Cyber Security, made possible in collaboration with the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Danish Parliament, MP Mr. Martin Lidegaard, and the Israeli Embassy and His Excellency Mr. David Akov.
The conference focussed on Israeli cyber capabilities and the Danish lessons that can be learnt from it.
It was a pleasure to be back with a physical conference and it was an honour to welcome our participating guests, prominent speakers, and excellencies – we have been looking forward to this day for a long time!
The conference subject, Cyber Security, is a topic in rapid development around the globe and with the current challenges worldwide, focus on cyber security and cyber infrastructure has never been more demanding or more vital.
Three leading Israeli cyber experts were brought to Denmark: Mr. Ram Levi (one of the architects of the cyber array in the Israeli PMO), Brig. General Ms. Sharon Nir (former Israeli military Head of Cyber and Communications School), and Mr. Shmulik Rotshas who represented Cyberstar (the first company to offer maritime cyber protection services). They shared their insights as to why Israel has become a global powerhouse and leading country in the field of cyber – relying on its strength in both security and technology.
We learned that 40% of all private cyber investments in the World are invested – in absolute numbers – in Israeli companies and that a third of the World’s unicorn cyber companies – private start-ups worth at least $1 billion – are Israeli. Today, cyber accounts for 15% of Israeli high-tech exports, which is about half of the total exports of the State of Israel and is still growing.
Our prominent Israeli guests were joined by Danish top experts: CEO & Founder of the Praesidio Group, Ms. Susanne Skov Diemer, Market Director in the Danish Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Anders Thomsen, Rear Admiral (retired) Mr. Torben Ørting Jørgensen, and Partner at Deloitte and Head of Detect and Response – Cyber Risk Advisory Denmark, Mr. Martin Wang Nexø, who each shared their unique perspectives from their vast experience and heightened the panel discussions even further.
The panellists touched upon crucial aspects of cyber security relevant in Denmark specifically, namely the eco-system and governmental role in establishing viable cyber protection, especially in the private sector against which 95% of cyber attacks are directed, and they discussed general cyber awareness in society and cyber training in the military and academia, and the need of a strong political prioritization of the issue, with examples of maritime cyber-attacks and lessons deduced after the Maersk attach in 2017.
We are honoured that such prominent experts took part in the conference to share their knowledge and discuss matters affected by – and related to – Cyber Security, and the opportunities this represents to National, Regional and Global interests.
Our skilled moderators, Mr. Kristian Mouritzen from the Berlingske Group and Prof. Karen Lund Pedersen from DIIS, led the conference and panel discussions with grace, before guests filled with new knowledge and eager to know more concluded the day with on-point questions for discussion in the Q&A-session, where the moderators skilfully tied it all together with answers from the panel of speakers.
By the end of the successful conference, we had a graduation ceremony for the CSCD Youth Academy students, that received their certificates of completion on this day.
The CSCD Youth Academy is our newest initiative launched this spring, with the purpose to foster diplomatic dialogue and cultural exchange between top talented Danish students – with a special interest in diplomacy and foreign policy – and Ambassadors in Copenhagen.
This semester we had the exquisite honour to visit the embassies of; Croatia – Argentina – China – Serbia – and Slovenia, which generously invited our selected students to their embassies and have shown them the inside world of diplomacy, to build bridges between diplomacy and top talented students who will be the future Danish Diplomats, Policy Makers, and Stake Holders of Denmark.
We call this rare concept “Have Tea with the Ambassador” and will continue after the summer with five new embassies.
It was great to be back with a conference in physical form and we are deeply grateful to all parties who contributed to the success of the conference, which we humbly hope may serve as both inspiration and a knowledge-sharing source for better and more resilient preparedness against cyber-attacks in Denmark and other countries, especially under the current trying times.
It is – as always – your kind support, which makes all this possible, and we look forward to many more activities that we are currently planning for the rest of 2022.
Click here to read more about the CSCD Youth Academy
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