The aim of the conference was to bring together academics, policymakers, and practitioners with different specialities to discuss the Cybersecurity Strategy and its implementation. After more than two years, it is time to evaluate whether the strategy is succeeding in its goals, but also whether it is still fit for purpose in an ever evolving society.

The conference kicked off with a keynote by Prof. Dr. Lokke Moerel, Professor of Global ICT Law (Tilburg University) and Senior of Counsel, Morrison & Foerster (Brussels) and was followed by the first panel discussing the regulatory developments towards achieving the Cybersecurity Strategy. Prof. Dr. Lee Bygrave (University of Oslo), Renate Verheijen (European Union Agency for Cybersecurity), Dr. Rocco Bellanova (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), and Claudia Aanonsen (Norwegian Institute of International Affair) shared their insights on the current regulatory landscape.

The second panel, with Christian D’Cunha (European Commission), Dr. Cristina Del-Real (Leiden University), and Mauro Vignati (International Committee of the Red Cross), addressed the question of how cybersecurity is handled in times of crisis (e.g., in times of the pandemic, or with ongoing cyberwarfare in Ukraine).

After two parallel paper sessions during which participants presented their abstracts, a final panel session on assessing what the future of cybersecurity holds took place. During this panel, Prof. Dr. Bart Jacobs (Radboud University), Florian Pennings (Microsoft), Joke Bodewits (Hogan Lovells), and Massimo Attoresi (Deputy Head of the Technology  & Privacy Unit of the European Data Protection Supervisor) discussed the main technological, legal, societal, political challenges and opportunities for the future of cybersecurity strategy.