The Island Council of Tenerife and the Santa Cruz City Council presented this Wednesday the tenth edition of Hackron, one of the most important Spanish-speaking cybersecurity congresses in the world, which will bring together the best experts from the national and international ICT security scene, in a mixed format that will include technical workshops and keynote speeches.
The event was attended by the Second Vice-President and Councillor for the Presidency, Finance and Modernisation, Berta Pérez; the CEO of Turismo de Tenerife, David Pérez; the Councillor for Technology and Citizen Participation of Santa Cruz City Council, Javier Rivero; and the Congress organiser, Igor Lukic.
Berta Pérez stressed the importance of this event “which will bring us the latest news, threats, proposals and cybersecurity solutions, because in today’s technological world, this issue concerns us all: public administrations, private companies and citizens in general”.
During her speech, the island official highlighted the value of the cybersecurity programme that the Island Authority has been promoting, with the support of the National Cryptologic Centre (CCN), to help local administrations protect their communications and digital services against cyber-attacks, with special attention to those with less than 20,000 inhabitants.
“The five smallest local councils in Tenerife (Fasnia, Vilaflor de Chasna, El Tanque, Buenavista and Los Silos) are already certified in cybersecurity and this year we are convinced that another six will join in. Of course, we will continue to work with all the municipalities on the island, because our goal is for all of them to be at the forefront of digital security in Spain,” he added.
For his part, the CEO of Tenerife Board of Tourism, David Pérez, said that Hackron has become a more fundamental player than ever. “Tourist destinations are finding it increasingly difficult to avoid becoming victims of cyber-attacks, so we believe it is essential to bring the latest developments and trends in cybersecurity first-hand to the sector and to raise awareness of such a delicate and important issue”.
In this regard, David Pérez highlighted “the work carried out throughout his term of office to promote digitalisation and sustainability, which has led us to have the first Tourism Artificial Intelligence Plan in Spain”. He also recalled that the Smart Office project has already gone out to tender, “which will be the backbone of all the projects linked to digitalisation in Tenerife”, and that the island has renewed its certification as a smart tourist destination.
The Councillor for Technology, Javier Rivero, indicated that “Hackron has been a firm commitment for us since 2013, when the first edition took place. From the City Council we are very aware of the importance of cybersecurity, so over the years we have been taking steps and redoubling our efforts to ensure the security of the citizens of Santa Cruz. In 2021, in fact, we were designated as a Critical Operator of Essential Services by the National Centre for Critical Infrastructure,” he concluded.
Finally, the congress organiser, Igor Lukic, highlighted the presence of Chema Alonso, “one of the most mediatic speakers in the technology sector, a renowned hacker and head of Telefónica’s digital department”. He also referred to some of the specific activities on the programme, such as the escape room (designed jointly by the Hackron team and Tenerife Tourism) and the Capture the Flag competition, two computer challenges in which participants can test their hacking skills.
In addition to Chema Alonso, experts such as Pablo López, from the National Cryptologic Centre; Luis Ocaña, from Extreme Networks; Salvador Sánchez, from Open Cloud Factory; José Luis Verdeguer, from CTO Zoon Suite; Claire Vacherot, from Orange France; Marc Rivero, from Karpersky; Yago Jesús, from E-Garante; Lorenzo Martínez, from Securízame; Jelena Krasojevic, from ASMI; and Leandro Naranjo and Romén Quintana, from Onecyber, will be giving presentations at the congress.
Around 400 people are expected to attend the conference, although part of it will also be streamed on the event’s website (hackron.com).
Hackron 2023 is supported by the Island Council of Tenerife, through Tenerife Board of Tourism, the Santa Cruz City Council, the Government of the Canary Islands, the National Cryptologic Centre, the National Institute of Cybersecurity and many companies, especially from the telecommunications, technology and cybersecurity sectors.
