“Actions to promote research and innovation in the generation and retention of talent, as well as to foster the development of the cybersecurity industry in Europe were discussed.”
This cybersecurity event strives to promote and support actions to engage girls and women in this sector
For two days, the national cybersecurity ecosystem met to exchange knowledge and experiences with experts with the aim of enhancing research and addressing new challenges in cybersecurity; protecting ourselves from cyber threats and developing the growth of a competitive cybersecurity and ICT industry.
TECNALIA was represented by our expert in cybersecurity, Ana Ayerbe, Director of TECNALIA’s CORES-DIGITAL Area. Ms. Ayerbe is also member of the Board of Directors of the European Cybersecurity Platform ECSO, the Board of Directors of the Women4Cyber Council, the Board of Directors of the Spanish chapter of Women4Cyber, and she is the President of the Board of Directors of RENIC (Spanish Network of Excellence in Cybersecurity Research). Ana is a member of ENISA’ s Stakeholders Cybersecurity Certification Group (SCCG) and she participates as an expert in several working groups of the National Cybersecurity Forum.
National cybersecurity ecosystem
On the first day, the national cybersecurity ecosystem was presented to our European counterparts with representatives of the main public bodies and administrations, such as Estíbaliz Hernáez Laviña, Deputy Minister of Technology, Innovation, and Digital Transformation of the Basque Government; Javier Dieguez, Director of the Basque Cybersecurity Center; Xabier Mitxelena, President of Cybasque; Carla Redondo, Secretary General of INCIBE; Miryam Jiménez, Head of Cybersecurity at Sandetel, and María Jose Martín, Head of Risk Monitoring at CESICAT.
The experiences of women in cybersecurity were shared at the panel moderated by Ana Ayerbe. The panellists included Garbiñe Manterola, Knowledge Transfer Manager of the Basque Research & Technology Alliance (BRTA); Iratxe Lejarreta, Computer Science Professor; Nerea Baez, CEO of Jakin Code; Rosa Pérez, Cyber Girls Day, and Eduvigis Ortiz, President of the Spanish chapter of Women4Cyber.
Council Women4Cyber initiatives
On the second day of the meeting, the experts who are part of the Council Women4Cyber, reviewed the different initiatives that are underway; the launch of the W4C STARtup award, W4C in conversation, the mentoring programme, the W4C academy, the 2023 work platform, the Hacking Gender Barriersconference, Youth Ambassadors, and a review of the activities of the national chapters.
Cybersecurity at TECNALIA
We conduct applied research in the fields of industrial cybersecurity, cryptography, privacy, and blockchain. At TECNALIA we have industrial cybersecurity laboratories for the automotive, energy, cyber-range, and blockchain industries, which form part of the Cybersecurity Node of the Basque Digital Innovation Hub and the INCIBENational Network of Industrial Laboratories.
TECNALIA is also a member of national and international cybersecurity organisations such as ECSO (European Organisation for Cybersecurity), EOS (European Organisation for Security), RENIC (Spanish Network of Excellence in Cybersecurity Research), and WOMEN4CYBER, among others.
