Another “Alert” conference on cybersecurity was successfully held in Zagreb, gathering more than 200 accredited cybersecurity experts from Croatia and the region and providing insight into the latest challenges in this area. The conference presented top speakers from seven countries and topics that sparked significant discussions during this day-long event.
The conference was opened by Igor Gržalja, CEO of ASEE Croatia, the conference's organizer, pointing out: "We believe in creating a community that cooperates and shares knowledge and experience to face cyber challenges jointly. I am proud to witness today not only the creation of such a community but also its expansion. The world of cybersecurity is extremely dynamic, and I see those of us gathered here as protectors of the digital present and future; I believe that, as such, we have a responsibility not only to keep up but also to be one step ahead of potential threats.”
The keynote speaker for the first part of the conference was Oren Elimelech, renowned international cybersecurity expert and CEO of CyberTeam360, with a challenging lecture entitled "A New Era of Cyber Warfare". One of the key topics was the in-depth analysis of fraud and behavior in the fight against phishing, presented by Andrea Jelavić Šako and Dubravko Kovačić from ASEE. Gabor Hirsch from Thales shed additional light on the topic, covering the new legislation focusing on the NIS2 directive. Martina Dragičević from A1 continued with this topic in her presentation, referring to the new legislation focusing on Croatia on the cyber horizon of the European Union. Tom Vazdar from Riskoria talked about cyberpsychology, emphasizing the need to understand the human factor in security threats and the importance of continuous education in the field of cyber security, while David Capezza from Visa talked about the future of secure payments.
The afternoon part of the conference began with the second keynote speech named "Mobile Threats and Fraud: Will it Disrupt Cybersecurity?" by Dutch expert Eward Driehuis of ThreatFabric. The topic was also covered by Domagoj Ciković and Željka Jurić from ASEE, referring to the second aspect of mobile application security with the presentation "The Terrifying Reality of Attacks on Mobile Devices", while their colleague Luka Babić talked about the latest trends in quantum cryptography.
Panel discussions, moderated by ASEE experts Robert Preskar and Goran Marković, brought in-depth insights into topics such as the challenges of SaaS in the banking industry and the fight against social engineering fraud, which is increasingly targeting companies and their employees. The panelists included representatives of local and regional banks and companies – Lorenzo Villa from the Italian Credem Bank, Filip Pažin from Raiffeisen Bank, Danijel Miletić from HPB, Draženko Kopljar from PBZ, Saša Lončarić from Podravska banka, Ivan Hećimović from Zagrebačka banka, Ivica Gjorgjevski from Stopanska banka AD – Skopje and an experienced cyber security expert Alen Beganović from Ethernaut.
CrowdStrike's representative, Alexander Kriechbaum, shared his insights into reducing cybersecurity risks and tactics to ‘fool’ your opponent. Perica Šimundić from ASEE talked about understanding and ways to prevent DDoS attacks, while Damir Popović and Stipe Sumić from IT Sistemi presented experiences in protecting documents and business information stored in them Dubravko Hlede from MbCom Technologies talked about the necessity of a zero-trust approach in cyber security.
"I am extremely pleased that the “Alert” conference, which we are organizing for the third year in a row, has proven to be a top event that provides a deeper insight into the latest trends, challenges, and solutions in the field of cyber security. We have managed to emphasize the importance of raising awareness of cyber threats through numerous topics that we have managed to open, with special emphasis on the need for continuous education, but also the preparation of companies for modern cyber challenges," concluded Viktor Olujić, member of the management board of ASEE Croatia, who closed the conference.
In addition to ASEE as the conference organizer, this year, “Alert” was supported through partnerships by other reputable companies – CrowdStrike, Thales, Alfatec, Exclusive Networks, MbCom Technologies, and Visa.
