Minister of Defence opened Danish Hub for Cybersecurity

Danish Hub for Cybersecurity is a tentative four-year initiative supported by The Danish Industry Foundation with DKK 21 mill. and it is organized in collaboration between leading companies and organizations, research and teaching institutions.

According to CEO of the hub, Henrik Fougt, the goal is “to enable Danish companies to protect themselves from cyber threats. The cyber defense must be so effective that Danish companies are at the very top compared to OECD countries and thus are perceived by partners as attractive.”

The DTU President, Anders Bjarklev, welcomed the Minister of Defense and then the many guests to DTU. He emphasized in his welcome that, among other things, “The Danish Hub for Cybersecurity is a national network that will bring together all the good forces in cybersecurity that will become more and more important these years, and which will protect our business community and create good, new businesses."

Minister of Defense Trine Bramsen and DTU President Anders Bjarklev. Photo: Bax Lindhart

The Minister of Denfence Trine Bramsen spoke as the first to the 100 participants in the opening of the Danish Hub for Cybersecurity and she said that “the threat from cybercrime is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The foundations of our democratic society are being threatened. Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility with national interaction,” which is at the very core of the hub's most important task, namely bringing together the most important cybersecurity partners in Denmark, thereby creating an ecosystem that contributes to the development of secure cyber solutions and skills enhancement in companies.

Minister of Defence Trine Bramsen. Photo: Bax Lindhart

The threat from cybercrime and joint coordination was also the main message of the Director of the Center for Cyber Security, Thomas Lund-Sørensen, who among other things said that “setting up the hub is coming at just the right time. Others have the will and resources to attack us, so the threat is valued as 'high'. The future technologies like 5G, AI, and quantum computers - to gather knowledge about this and how we can use them to defend ourselves, this is some of the things we can use the hub for."

Director of the Center for Cyber Security Thomas Lund-Sørensen. Photo: Bax Lindhart

Director of The Danish Industry Foundation, Thomas Hofman-Bang explained why cybersecurity is both a threat and an opportunity for Danish companies, and why it has been obvious that the fund should support the hub: “We want to strengthen cybersecurity based on Danish business and industry, and especially with a focus on SMEs and the broad Danish business community, just as the hub focuses on. And efforts are needed to strengthen the overall environment and the hub is ahead of it to coordinate."

Director of The Danish Industry Foundation Thomas Hofman-Bang. Photo: Bax Lindhart

Director of Corporate Security in Tryg, Tom Engly spoke about the importance of an openness culture in relation to cyber attacks to gain greater knowledge in the field. Therefore, he also provided concrete examples of cyber attacks targeted at Tryg, and explained how they had handled the attacks, as well as how they worked to train their employees to spot potential attacks.

“Until 2015, it was difficult to get cyber ecurity on the agenda. IT security is a management responsibility.” But now the leaders have become aware of the situation we are in the middle of, and that we must act actively.

Director of Corporate Security at Tryg Tom Engly. Photo: Bax Lindhart

The CEO of Danish Hub for Cyber Security, Henrik Fought, concluded the event by presenting the hub and its key tasks.

“Cybercrime is the fastest growing crime in the world because it is easy. We [the hub] need to help SMEs, and we have a super strong foundation in the hub, with the partners we have. "

Last but not least, he presented the team and the secretariat behind the hub.

CEO for Danish Hub for Cybersecurity Henrik Fought. Photo: Bax Lindhart