Cybersecurity is one of the major challenges that any business will address today, being increasingly present in any company’s operation. For this reason, and, aiming to learn how to adapt to the new context, the Catalonian Family Business Association (ASCEF) organized a conference at the Equestrian Center of Barcelona, in conjunction with EY Catalunya.

“Information is one of the most valuable assets to any organization, especially in a world where risks do not cease to grow. Therefore, it is essential that companies protect and maintain computing services and information, while addressing the more and more frequent cyberattacks that may jeopardize entire businesses,” expressed during his welcoming address Amadeu Jori, ASCEF‘s president.

Xavier Ferré, associated responsible for cybersecurity at EY Catalunya, started off the session describing the current context and highlighted that “companies’ digitalization and technological evolution, sophistication of the attacks and higher regulation linked to the obligation to safeguard data,” are three reasons why cybersecurity “is here to stay“. This is about an “organized crime, which has become the third illegal world economy” with surgical and targeted attacks.

The COVID-19 pandemics situation we are going through “has favored these attacks“, with security weak points emerging in the context of remote work over domestic network connections.

Ferré underscored that in the event of an cyberattack “time makes the difference, because in the event of complicated situations decisions need to be made rapidly.”  On the other hand, he emphasized the importance of being prepared beforehand and therefore “a set of actions should be taken into account such as identify, safeguard, detect, respond and recover“. “There are many tools and steps that we could develop and follow and that can help us on a daily basis,” he added. In this way, Ferré pointed out the importance of achieving resilience in our companies resilient through the ability to response to contingencies.

Wrapping up the conference, was Ángle Pérez, from CISO Autopistas (Albertis Company), who explained the company’s experience with cybersecurity.

Given the subject and points covered, the conference received a very positive reaction from the audience, being the first attendance session organized by ASCEF after the pandemics broke out.