BSIDES International Cybersecurity Conference. Day 1

Saturday, 18 March 2023 18:10

The UNWE jointly with BaseLine and other leading companies in the field of cybersecurity in Bulgaria organized the Second International Conference on Cybersecurity of the BSIDES series. For the second consecutive year the Forum is held in Maxima Aula of the University on two days - on 18 and 19 March 2023.

Such events have been organized all over the world since 2009 and they are generally entirely non-commercial. They are designed to provide an opportunity for cybersecurity professionals and enthusiasts to present their ideas and share experience in an appropriate environment among an audience with similar interests.

Special guest for the Conference was the Deputy Minister of e-Government Atanas Maznev. On behalf of the UNWE the participants in the Forum were welcomed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rosen Kirilov, Vice Rector for Digitalization and Cybersecurity of the University.

Prof. Atanas Maznev and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rosen Kirilov /from the left to the right/

"It is an honour and a privilege for me to open this International Forum which is held for a second consecutive year in Bulgaria. A forum that gives the Bulgarian community of information and cybersecurity specialists the opportunity to get acquainted with all the innovations and trends in the sector which are currently relevant at the international level", said the Deputy Minister of e-Government Atanas Maznev and added that the requirements and demands in the field of cybersecurity constantly increase not only among professionals but also in our daily lives. The Ministry of e-Government works not only in the field of cybersecurity but also in the digitalization of the state starting from the creation of laws, policies and state strategies to the operational protection of the state administration itself.

"The new European Directive NIS 2 for network and information security was published. We are about to develop a new Cybersecurity Regulation under this regulation so your knowledge and skills will be needed in creating these regulations. In the framework of this Forum the first qualification round will be held in the formation of the Bulgarian National Cyber Security Team with the official support of the Ministry of e-Government. The team will represent our country at the European Cyber Security Challenge", added the Deputy Minister Maznev.

The Vice Rector for Digitalization and Cybersecurity of UNWE Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rosen Kirilov greeted the participants in the Conference. On behalf of the Rector, Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov, allow me to welcome you to our University. We are grateful to the organizers that for the second consecutive year this event is held at the UNWE, for us it is an honour, a privilege and a great responsibility. As a host of the Forum we see our modest involvement in the formation and maintenance of a community of cybersecurity practitioners which is of exclusive importance as to business as to the public sector and the country as a whole. Our University has been quite active in cybersecurity education in recent years and we have a very successful Master's degree programme in Cybersecurity Management. This year we hope to be able to launch a Bachelor's degree programme in Cybersecurity focused not so much on the technical aspects but rather on the management and organization which are very important for every organization", said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rosen Kirilov. He outlined that the UNWE works and has taken a number of actions in terms of cybersecurity and digitalization. He also emphaised: "I could most responsibly declare that the UNWE is a leader in digitalization among higher education institutions".

The National Cyber Security Coordinator Petar Kirkov presented the regulations in the sector pointing out that they are a very important part of the process because they happen against the background of the daily work of information and cybersecurity specialists. He also presented the latest set of European Union regulations in the field of network and information security.

Petar Kirkov

The event continued with the presentation of the reports. Discussions were in thematic areas related to the Internet vulnerability, enhancing information systems security and best practices in cybersecurity.

Among the highlights of the Forum were presentations by specialists from Bulgaria, Romania, Israel, Greece which could not be heard elsewhere.

Radoslav Gerganov presented his research on Hyundai Head Unit Hacking regarding how cyber-secure are the new cars, Christian Cornea spoke about the possibility to evade the antivirus protection by "bad-usb". "Stalking the Stalkers" was the topic of presentation by Vangelis Stikas, Daniela Shalev presented her experience in the fighting with APT through the topic Hunting Unsigned DLLs to Find APT.

In the frameworks of the Forum it was also held the traditional Capture the Flag Competition which provides an opportunity for everyone from the cybersecurity community to test practically their ethical hacking skills in a specially prepared environment.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rosen Kirilov, Spas Ivanov, Manager of BaseLine - one of the organizers of BSides Sofia 2023 and Peter Kirkov /from the left to the right/

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