The sixth IT-Security Conference was held in Minsk on November 24-26. The 2020 conference, in addition to new topics and directions, was distinguished by a new online format.
Every year, the IT-Security Conference becomes a platform for a dialogue between regulators (the Operational Analytical Center and the National Bank), government agencies and government bodies, the IT community and the business community of various sectors of the economy on the latest technologies and developments, developing joint solutions in the field of security information protection and information security of organizations.
In 2020, the conference was divided into the following blocks:
- The main areas of cybersecurity.
- Cloud security services.
- Cybersecurity and national CERT and FINSERT
- Security of crypto projects.
- Information protection in IoT and KVOI projects.
- Protection of personal information.
420 attendees registered for IT-Security Conference-2020, which is not much different from the number of last year’s participants. The speakers represented the leading information security companies from two capitals: Minsk and Moscow. The general partner was NCC Group from Vilnius, which has long-term cooperation with SoftClub and many joint projects in the field of information security.
The geography expanded slightly: in addition to Minsk, all regional centers (Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilev) and Minsk region, as well as Orsha, Novopolotsk, Ostrovets, Vilnius and Dushanbe were represented.
This year, for better and more efficient communication of participants and organizers, a Telegram channel was created, in which active work was carried out on the eve of the conference, as well as during the days of the forum: questions and answers, exchange of views on reports, discussions.
One of the moderators and speakers was Vladimir Anishchenko, Chairman of the Information Security Committee of the Infopark Association and Deputy General Director of the SoftClub for Science and Innovation.
– This conference was held online for the first time,– Vladimir Anischenko comments on the forum. – But the first pancake wasn’t lumpy. Firstly, the team of organizers of CJSC Infopark-project has worked, starting from the May Digital Banking, already about 20 online events. Secondly, in June and July, the Information Security Committee of the Infopark Association held two online seminars. Therefore, we tried to take into account all possible technical overlaps.
– Have you managed to analyze whether the online format is successful for this event?
– Yes, there is a difference in formats. But we have no choice today. It is necessary to communicate taking into account the prevailing circumstances. The conference was originally prepared for the last days of March 2020 (in the usual timeframe) with a three-day program and 60 papers. Today, we have left only half of them online – 30 reports, reducing the time by half, which is more convenient for the audience. This was done for two reasons. First, we had to completely abandon the plenary session to present practical cases of information security, which still requires live communication between the leading masterclasses and the audience. The second reason: some of the most important breakout sessions have already been held earlier in the online format since the issues under consideration required urgent discussion of the IT community with regulators.
– What difficulties did the online format cause?
– One difficulty. As always, some of the speakers (an insignificant part) didn’t test the access in advance, didn’t discuss the scenario of interaction with the presenter and moderators. As a result, there were some hiccups in switching from one report to another. Two or three times, the speakers are said to have lost the Internet for a short time.
– What topics caused the most discussions among the participants? What was the most relevant on the forum?
– During the conference, the main directions and development strategies in the field of information security and information protection in the country were discussed. As always, the reports and answers to questions from representatives of regulators, who provided explanations on changes in legislation in terms of building systems for protecting information of organizations and ensuring the security of electronic exchange of financial data, aroused considerable interest. A lively discussion (not for the first time) caused the definition of the place of cybersecurity in the processes of ensuring information security during the digital transformation of the activities of commercial companies and organizations, issues of security of cloud services and cloud security services, issues of information security in KVOI, discussion on actual topics of personal data protection.
By the way, 90% of the participants of the Telegram channel gave high marks for the organization and thematic content of IT-Security Conference-2020.