Projects

NIS2: All you need to know

09/10/2024 - Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium

Recently, I attended an online seminar hosted by the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB), centered around the upcoming NIS2 directive, a pivotal piece of EU legislation aimed at strengthening cybersecurity across critical sectors.

The session featured two expert speakers: Johan Klykens and Dirk De Paepe, who shared their insights on what NIS2 means for organizations in Belgium and how it raises the bar for cybersecurity governance, risk management, and incident reporting.

Throughout the seminar, we explored:

• Key changes introduced in NIS2 compared to the original directive

• Which sectors and entities will now fall under its scope

• How compliance requirements will affect both technical teams and executive leadership

• Practical steps to start preparing for implementation

After the presentations, participants were divided into smaller discussion groups, which provided a great opportunity to reflect on the content, ask questions, and share perspectives with peers from different sectors.

The seminar was both informative and practical, giving us a clearer view of how to approach the upcoming regulatory changes. A big thank you to the CCB and the speakers for leading this important conversation on future-proofing cybersecurity in Belgium.

Technical Inspiration Day

5/11/2024 - Savaco

On November 5, 2024, Savaco hosted its Technical Inspiration Day, bringing together IT professionals and industry leaders for a day packed with insights into the evolving cybersecurity landscape. The event featured a well-curated program of presentations from top technology vendors, each addressing key challenges and innovations in digital security.

Here's a recap of the day's sessions:

Attendees were welcomed with coffee and the opportunity to network with peers, setting the tone for a day of learning and collaboration.

The day kicked off with Armis diving into the ever-expanding attack surface created by connected devices. Filip Vanierschot, Sales Engineer at Armis, emphasized the importance of real-time visibility and automated response mechanisms to secure modern, distributed environments. The session highlighted how organizations can better manage IoT, OT, and IT devices under one unified platform.

A short break gave everyone the chance to discuss the first session and gear up for the next wave of presentations.

Palo Alto Networks introduced their latest Prisma Access Browser, built to secure workspaces regardless of where or how users connect. Tom van Ginneken, Channel Systems Engineer at Palo Alto Networks, demonstrated how this secure browser prevents data leaks by restricting unauthorized actions like screenshots and copy-paste, offering a streamlined yet robust approach to endpoint protection.

Another quick pause allowed attendees to recharge and continue conversations sparked by the Prisma Access demo.

Microsoft's session focused on the latest enhancements in its security portfolio. Hans Hofkens, Partner Solution Architect Security, Compliance & Identity at Microsoft, gave a comprehensive overview of new features in Microsoft Defender, Entra ID, and Purview, with an emphasis on integrating compliance, identity, and threat protection into a unified security strategy.

A networking lunch gave participants the chance to reflect on the morning's sessions and engage directly with the speakers and vendors.

Wrapping up the event, HPE Aruba presented its Secure Services Edge (SSE) approach. Ken Van Campenhout, Technical Enablement at HPE Aruba, discussed how edge-to-cloud security models are becoming essential in a hybrid work era. The talk focused on data protection, zero-trust network access, and secure connectivity at scale.

The event concluded with new insights, fresh perspectives, and valuable connections for everyone in attendance.

Technical Inspiration Day offered a well-rounded view of today's cybersecurity challenges—and more importantly, the innovative tools and strategies available to meet them. Kudos to Savaco for organizing an informative and engaging event that brought together leading voices in the field.

CyberSecurity Challenge Belgium

14/03/2025 - Nviso

Today I had the opportunity to participate in the NVISO Capture the Flag (CTF) cybersecurity challenge, a dynamic event that brought together event that brought together 359 teams from all kinds of backgrounds. It was an intense, hands-on experience filled with brain-teasing puzzles and real-world cybersecurity scenarios.

The CTF was designed to test our skills in various areas of cybersecurity, including cryptography, web exploitation, reverse engineering, and digital forensics. Each challenge came with a hidden "flag," and our goal was to solve the puzzle, find the flag, and earn points for our team.

I teamed up with a student from HOGENT who recently completed her internship with me. Working together in this fast-paced environment was both fun and rewarding, we made a great team and tackled the challenges head-on.

As the competition progressed, the scoreboard updated live, creating a thrilling atmosphere. Teams raced to earn points and secure one of the top 38 spots that would qualify them for the final round. Although we gave it our best shot, we didn't make the cut this time. Still, the experience was incredibly valuable.

This Capture the Flag event wasn't just a test of skill. It was a chance to learn by doing, to problem-solve under pressure, and to connect with others passionate about security.

Huge thanks to NVISO for organizing such a well-executed event. I'm already looking forward to the next one!

Podcast about ElasticSearch

14/05/2025 - Howest

We recently had the pleasure of hosting a new episode of our tech podcast, featuring IT expert Nico Sap, Software Engineer at Genetec. Joining the conversation were our co-hosts Viktor Carpel and Mattice Heyzak, as we dove into the world of Elasticsearch, one of the most powerful and widely used search and analytics engines today.

In this episode, Nico provided a clear and accessible explanation of Elasticsearch, describing it as a distributed, RESTful search engine capable of handling large volumes of structured and unstructured data. Built on top of Apache Lucene, Elasticsearch is known for its speed, scalability, and versatility, especially when it comes to real-time data analysis and full-text search capabilities.

We explored common use cases for Elasticsearch, including:

• Log and event data analysis
• Application performance monitoring
• Full-text search in websites or internal tools
• Security information and event management (SIEM)

Nico also shared an implementation example from his work at Genetec, walking us through how Elasticsearch is used to index and search data efficiently within a large-scale software ecosystem. He discussed best practices for setting up clusters, managing indices, and optimizing performance for high-throughput environments.

This episode is a must-listen for developers, system architects, and anyone curious about how modern search engines work behind the scenes.

Tune in now to get practical insights and firsthand experience from a professional actively working with Elasticsearch in the field.