A Tale of Two Floppies: the basics of cybersecurity. | Eddy Willems | TEDxKULeuven

What have ransomware, an airport, 2 diskettes, and cybersecurity in common?

Some people want to become pilots, some people want to be doctors. We all have our own dreams. But what if your dream actually comes true? This lecture will take you back to a pivotal stage in the life of Eddy Willems more than 30 years ago. Eddy will tell you two stories of how two different diskettes changed his life forever. The first one, the AIDS Information diskette, even turns up in history books and museums from time to time. The second one infected his mind in some way and drove him into his daily job of helping people by communicating (and giving lectures about) the cyberdangers around us, alerting us to all kinds of risks to the public in general, and ultimately trying to make the world a safer and maybe better place. These diskettes could maybe change your life in the future.

Eddy Willems is a worldwide recognized cybersecurity expert!
Currently, he is a board member of 3 security industry organizations (EICAR, LSEC, AVAR), Global Security Officer, and the resident Security Evangelist at G DATA CyberDefense AG.
In his current role, he gives presentations and seminars all over the world. Several online and broadcasting media use his advice regularly.
He published his first Dutch book ‘Cybergevaar’ in 2013 followed by a German and English translation ‘Cyber danger’.
He is also co-author of the Dutch SF cyberthriller ‘Het Virus’ published in 2020. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx