SINCON 2020 Conference Keynote
Day 1 (2 Jan 2021)
10.30am—10.45am
@ Main Stage
Abstract
The world is constantly changing, and at present, we’re gradually moving into the Cyber Age. But there are three barriers to making such a transition effectively. First – global cybercrime; second – highly professional targeted attacks; and third – poor security of industrial systems and critical infrastructure.
Although cyber is everywhere around us, it remains vulnerable. Cybercrime has become a global problem and its scale is massive. And unfortunately, the pandemic has only accelerated cybercriminals’ activity all the more.
As cyberspace develops, so too does cybersecurity. Thus, we see a growing need to switch from cybersecurity to cyber-immunity. A system is considered to be cyber-immune when it can be guaranteed that the cost to hackers in their attacks is higher than the profit they may make – or the cost of the possible damage to potential victims.
Cybersecurity is becoming ever more important as modern technologies enable our entering the Cyber Age: an era where most systems, in fact – most of the whole world around us, is cyber, secure and immune against hackers’ attacks.
About Eugene Kaspersky
EUGENE KASPERSKY is a world-renowned cybersecurity expert and successful entrepreneur. He is a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Kaspersky, the world’s largest privately-held vendor of endpoint protection and cybersecurity solutions.
Eugene began his career in cybersecurity accidentally when his computer became infected with the ‘Cascade’ virus in 1989. Eugene’s specialized education in cryptography helped him analyze the encrypted virus, understand its behavior, and then develop a removal tool for it. After successfully removing the virus, Eugene’s curiosity and passion for computer technology drove him to start analyzing more malicious programs and developing disinfection modules for them. This exotic collection of antivirus modules would eventually become the foundation for Kaspersky’s antivirus database. Today the database is one of the most comprehensive and complete collections in cybersecurity, used in detecting and preventing systems from being infected by more than 500 million malicious programs.
Further pursuing his passion for defensive technologies, in 1990 Eugene started gathering a team of like-minded enthusiast researchers to create the AVP Toolkit Pro antivirus program, which four years later was recognized by the University of Hamburg as the most effective antivirus software in the world.
Wishing to combine their successful track record of antivirus programming with their entrepreneurial vision, Eugene and his colleagues decided to establish their own independent company. In 1997 Kaspersky was founded, with Eugene heading the company’s antivirus research. In 2007 he was named Kaspersky’s CEO.
Today Kaspersky is one of the fastest growing IT security vendors worldwide, operating in almost 200 countries and territories worldwide. The company employs more than 4,000 professionals and IT security specialists in 34 dedicated regional offices across 30 countries, and its cybersecurity technologies protect over 400 million users worldwide.
Kaspersky’s globally renowned team of experts has investigated some of the most complex and sophisticated cyberattacks ever known, including Stuxnet, Flame, and Red October. The company also cooperates extensively with INTERPOL, Europol, and national police bodies to actively assist them in their fight against cybercrime.
Eugene has an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the UK’s Plymouth University. He regularly gives both lectures on cybersecurity at universities around the globe, and keynotes at leading conferences and industry events.
Eugene is both a passionate traveler and dedicated devotee of wild nature and adventure-tourism. He is also a talented photographer, which assists in his prolific chronicling of his exploits in his blog (https://eugene.kaspersky.com/) – from polar expeditions and glacier crossings to volcano scaling and jungle trekking.