A secure democratic Net is a fundamental right

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We have chosen 10 persons who during the last year have done much for  IT security and its awareness in Belgium. If some people feel that we have forgotten them, see you next year, it isn't the intention to nominate every year the same people. It was more or less an idea to give something back to people who have invested a lot personally in the work of the security bloggers and to be able to give them something back - because it wasn't always that simple and easy and none of us are paid to do the work we are doing on the blogs or going ahead against all odds to defend the cause of more security in Belgian IT.

We thank Panda Security for the sponsering and so we may send each winner a Panda Internet Security package with a free subscription for one year.

1. Representative Roel Deseyn

We have known Roel Deseyn as somebody who has always had time and interest in the problems surrounding the security, privacy and quality of IT projects without being against IT and technology, on the contrary. And it didn't matter if he was in the opposition or on the governmental side, he always did the best he could. So we nominate him this year. If he will be nominated next year will depend on some practical things we need to see urgently put into place by this government. So far so good, but now it is time for real action.

2. Security4all

When the Belgian securitybloggers network started last year it was a meeting of minds and it wouldn't have been realised without his help and I know he is busy with some other big stuff. He is definitely one remarkable guy always curious and looking to know more, even if it has been sometimes very hard for him the last year but we have survived this. Enjoy the birthday,.....

3. Didier Stevens

Here we have another remarkable Belgian. He is someone that will take a product inside out and try to do all the things that one shouldn't with it, just to have a look if the product or code will hold or it will be stopped by the defenses. He has a blog that is being followed by securitypeople all over the world.

4. Mieke Moes

Here is a female ITsecurity blogger to be proud about and gentle with. She is also a driving force behind some helpforums for computer and ITproblems. For this alone she would have been nominated.

5. Thonnard Oliver

Here we have somebody who is working at the frontlines of the honeypot infrastructure in Europe (and will inform us more about that and the things they are discovering in the coming weeks and months (we hope)). There is nothing as important as a honeypot and we hope that many networks in Belgium will participate in his honeypot network.

6. Belsec

We nominate ourselves because we are here and we know that we also have spent all that time and effort and will do another year.

7. Netties.be

Netties.be is a free flemish online magazine about computers and had some attention for security and free security tools. About a month ago they agreed to host our weekly review and this is a partnership that we will keep on going in the following year(s) to come. It is quite an interesting flemish weekly with always some stuff that you could find elsewhere but for which you would have to spend some time.

8. David Glaude

David Glaude is the man behind the opposition against evoting in Belgium. We don't always agree with everything that he or his friends say, but there is one thing that has to be made very clear. You can't organise e-lections without being sure that every possible risk has been answered and that everything has been done to make the process as trustworthy as possible. The interuniversity study and the proposal as they were presented before the parliament do not respond to these criteria .

9. The university team that made the first critical report about EID

They were under a lot of pressure not to publish the study and some politician that didn't understand at all what he was talking about (not Roel) said such stupidities that no one read the paper itself and all the other interesting things that are in it. For the courage of publishing the study anyway, they deserve to be awarded. We hope that they will continue their research and not be silenced by subsidies and pressure. As there is no certification at all in Belgium, independent security research is the only way to be sure that there are no gaping security problems in the tools that we are supposed to use every day.

10. L - Sec

It is more or less an organisation that looks and talks like our ITpublications. They are not really independent and critical of the present state of affairs in the IT industry (who could do a whole lot more about security themselves without waiting for official legislation or initiatives instead and treating it as costs). But they were the motor behind another big initiative this year. Shortly after we were invited to speak before the parliament all the other official professional organisations for ITsecurity in Belgium and some other IT-organisations came together and wrote together an action plan for more ITsecurity on which they agreed. It is a first time that they all agreed on something and we can only hope that this is only the first step for a big coalition between the ITindustry and the professional organisations to strengthen together ITsecurity in Belgium.

That's all for this year, folks

For those that didn't get nominated, we have another year to go and great things to be done and there are always hands and minds needed. It is voluntary work, but as you see, we appreciate every effort big and small.