Launch Of The Luxembourg House Of Cybersecurity

Pictured HRH Prince Guillaume, Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity CEO Pascal Steichen, Minister of the Economy Franz Fayot and Jeannot Krecké (Photo © Stephanie Jabardo / Silicon Luxembourg)

As SECURITYMADEIN.LU becomes the Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity, CEO Pascal Steichen outlines this entity whose expanded missions will serve the general public and the Luxembourg and European cyber community.

On 17 October, on the occasion of the opening of the Cybersecurity Week Luxembourg 2022, SECURITYMADEIN.LU, the cybersecurity agency dedicated to the Luxembourg economy and municipalities, started a new chapter.

Not only did it inaugurate its new headquarters (122, rue Adolphe Fischer, Luxembourg City), adopt a new name (Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity, LHC) and logo, its missions, activities and services have also been expanded.

This transformation follows the appointment of the agency as National Cybersecurity Coordination Center (NCC), which will also represent Luxembourg within this European network.

This is part of the establishment of the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC), based in Bucharest, with Pascal Steichen as chairman of the board for a renewable 3-year term.

Steichen will keep his current position within the LHC and will lead its implementation and development. He explains here the reasons for this change and its impact, both in the fight against cybercrime, but also on the strengthening of the Luxembourg and European cyber community.

“We want to make the Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity a one-stop shop for cybersecurity”

Pascal Steichen, CEO of the Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity

Why this new name of Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity?

It is simpler, clearer, more identifiable and “straight to the point”. SECURITYMADEIN.LU was a bit more difficult to understand. The new name is also perfectly aligned with the Luxembourg Nation Branding, but also with the other sectoral promotion and coordination bodies “Luxembourg House of technologies”, “Luxembourg for Finance”, etc.

After the move, the new name and the new logo, what are the next steps?

The European mission of the National Cyber Security Coordination Center (NCC) at the Luxembourg level will be one of the new functions of the LHC. For this, we are reorganizing our current missions by including these new activities and new services that will be grafted onto the current ones. And by the beginning or during 2023, we will communicate more clearly about the European national center and its missions in the Grand Duchy. 

Among these activities, it will support Luxembourg actors who wish to participate in projects financed by European funds in research, innovation and technological development. We will really develop this activity with Luxinnovation, focusing on the cybersecurity part.

Cascade Funding is also one of the NCC’s missions. This is a mechanism of the European Commission to distribute public funds to help start-ups, scale-ups, SMEs and / or mid-sized companies to adopt or develop digital innovation. Each country has a budget to support national projects. Within this framework, we will set up a new funding mechanism next year.

We are also collaborating with Luxinnovation in the framework of the Digital Innovation Hub (DIH), which focuses on industry while integrating the cybersecurity aspect in the digital transformation of companies. On the continuing education side, we will be working more closely with the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth, as part of the Digital Learning Hub (DLH).

Opening in May 2022, the DLH is a meeting place for learners and professionals. It provides an infrastructure that fosters creativity, peer-to-peer learning and a culture of international exchange.  The goal of the DLH is to offer a variety of educational courses, particularly in cybersecurity, in a user-friendly environment. It is only natural that the LHC will work closely with the DLH.

In the term “Luxembourg House of”, there is this notion of grouping skills and expertise of companies under the same roof. What about the LHC?

This term is meant to be inclusive. In this large building, which we now occupy and manage 100%, we will fulfill this hosting function. We will also develop the start-up and innovation component. The startup pitch event during Cybersecurity Week Luxembourg will serve as a pilot and will allow us to determine whether there is a significant need for an incubator dedicated to cybersecurity, which we will be able to set up on our premises.

We will also make rooms and training facilities available to cybersecurity actors who need them. We are also working on a kind of Test Lab that can be used by cybersecurity players to test their solutions and products.

More generally, we want to make the LHC a one-stop shop for cybersecurity, where, for example, players such as BEE SECURE which raises awareness of cybersecurity among young people and citizens, will have a small office here to welcome the general public. 

DIH and DLH and various associations will also have a small space, a small office, or even a pied a terre to organize their meetings and activities. We are also in discussion with the University, in order to create a meeting place for the different worlds of research, industry, citizens, etc., in order to exchange best practices and collaborate.

The cyber ecosystem seems to lack diversity. There is also a great need for non-IT skills: in social sciences (psychologists, sociologists…), in defense, in intelligence and we need more women too. What will LHC do in this area?

We have indeed noticed for a few years that cybersecurity incorporates these different fields. We don’t have the exclusivity, but we are here to support all initiatives like the Women Cyber Force that we host. 

ENISA organizes a competition for young people, to identify new talent and motivate them. We support the Luxembourg national Cybersecurity team, which this year ranked 26th out of 33 participating countries in the European Cybersecurity Challenge. During the event, Luxembourg won the 3rd place in the openECSC.

In the humanitarian field, the LHC will host a cyberspace delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in charge of digital issues. During the Cybersecurity Week Luxembourg, the ICRC will have a stand to present its digitarium, a program of awareness, support and training for the various actors of cybersecurity and digital, on the specific challenges in the world of humanitarian related to technology. We will also accompany them.

For their part, the United Nations has set up an ad hoc committee whose mission is to develop an international convention to combat cybercrime. This international convention will be ready by 2024.  Luxembourg is actively participating in this work, including one of the LHC experts. The text will complement the Budapest Convention, the only international act against cybercrime. This is an important political dimension, which encompasses the global dimension of cyber security. 

How many people does the LHC have?

We currently have about 40 people who will be divided between a team dedicated directly to the Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity, which will take care of the hosting aspect and make sure that the whole ecosystem can find a place for their activities.

We have two other centers related to more specific activities such as the Computer Incident Response Center Luxembourg (CIRCL) and another center that will embrace the European Competence Center and will have the function of a national center in the framework of this European Cyber Competence Center. 

The idea that anyone can come to us and get help, expertise or dedicated support.

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