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Kalman Tiboldi - CTO & Founder at GemOne-TVH - Simplify or Die: Why Complexity Is the Real IT Challenge
Netherlands Jun 19, 2025 Invitation Only Physical dutch
Leading with data and AI: Strategies for digital succes in 2025. Op 19 juni in de 3D Makers Zone in Haarlem.
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Spain Jun 19, 2025 Country Members Physical spanish
En la noche previa al solsticio de verano, CIONET convoca a los líderes digitales más reconocidos de Cataluña a recibir el verano juntos, en un encuentro único y exclusivo con momentos muy especiales.
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Netherlands Jun 24, 2025 All Members Virtual dutch
Online Tech & Trends update
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Belgium Jun 24, 2025 Country Members Physical english
Cloud computing was hailed as the game-changing solution to modern business challenges—transforming how organisations operate, scale, and innovate. But as the technology matures, it’s time to take a step back and ask: Has cloud truly lived up to the hype, or are we overlooking its deeper complexities and hidden costs?In this critical reflection, we’ll revisit the core promises of cloud—such as enabling product-oriented organisations, facilitating End-to-End accountability, managing vast data volumes, and mitigating obsolescence. But we’ll also challenge the narrative: Are companies really freeing themselves to focus on innovation, or are they becoming dependent on cloud providers in ways that could limit future flexibility? How does the cloud reshape operating models, and are we prepared for the long-term consequences of handing over infrastructure control?
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Germany Jun 24, 2025 Country Members Physical german
Unter dem Titel Empower People – Die neue Ära der digitalen Workforce findet die sechste Edition von CIO Perspectives am 24. Juni 2025 in Frankfurt statt. Im Mittelpunkt steht, wie die digitale Transformation die Arbeitswelt verändert. Lernen Sie, wie Führungskräfte neue Formen der Zusammenarbeit entwickeln, Mitarbeitende stärken und eine Unternehmenskultur fördern können, die Innovation und Wachstum unterstützt. Freuen Sie sich auf inspirierende Vorträge, praxisnahe Einblicke und den Austausch mit führenden Experten. Seien Sie dabei und gestalten Sie die Zukunft der Arbeit aktiv mit!
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Italy Jun 26, 2025 Country Members Physical italian
E' un evento imperdibile dedicato al confronto tra protagonisti di primo piano nei mondi della tecnologia, del business, della scienza e dell’intrattenimento. Si susseguiranno dialoghi, approfondimenti e incontri su due palchi interconnessi, accompagnati da spazi di coworking, installazioni immersive e un’area expo pensata per stimolare connessioni e scambi di idee.
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Trend Micro Restores Essential Systems for Banijay Benelux Within Days of a Ransomware Attack
Banijay Benelux, a part of the Banijay media brand, produces and distributes popular television programs across the Netherlands and Belgium. In 2020, its business was brought to a sudden halt during a ransomware attack. AWS Partner Trend Micro quickly stepped in to prevent damage from spreading, then implemented new security precautions.
"Trend Micro instantly had the right tools to protect and to monitor specific areas. To do that without affecting performance or creating downtime was really impressive."
Leon Backbier Manager of IT, Banijay Benelux
Leveraging the Right Team’s Expertise to Address Ransomware Attack
Banijay Benelux—an Amsterdam-based company founded in 2020 and part of the Banijay Group television production and distribution business—develops sports programs, reality shows, and dramas such as Big Brother, Expeditie Robinson, and Penoza. It relies on AWS to support human resources, invoicing, and other business-critical tasks.
In early November 2020, Leon Backbier, manager of IT for Banijay Benelux, was awakened by a pre-dawn phone call from a colleague in the UK: a ransomware attack was targeting the company’s cloud infrastructure. Backbier and his team contacted long-term AWS Partner Trend Micro, which at the time managed on-site endpoints—but not cloud—security for Banijay Benelux, and asked for help.
Trend Micro quickly began working to minimize the attack’s scope, strengthen the company’s cloud security, and remediate and rebuild the affected servers. Over the next few months, Trend Micro would continue to monitor Banijay Benelux’s AWS infrastructure for additional threats, while also restoring the damaged infrastructure. Today, it provides the company with 24/7 managed cloud security.
"I’m feeling quite confident. I’m sleeping well every night again, because Trend Micro is watching over us. I can have an 8-hour sleep again."
Leon Backbier Manager of IT, Banijay Benelux
Essential Systems Restored Within 3-4 Days
Banijay Benelux refused to pay the attackers’ ransom and Backbier’s team members found that every server they tried to access was immediately encrypted. Within hours, Trend Micro was working to mitigate damage.
Trend Micro started by examining traffic logs and installing hardware to secure the company’s network. It also installed monitoring software to track activity across Banijay Benelux’s AWS environment, which included over 20 servers. “They instantly had the right tools to protect and to monitor specific areas,” says Backbier. “To do that without affecting performance or creating downtime was really impressive.”
Next, Trend Micro began working to rebuild the handful of servers that had been damaged by the ransomware. The first step was to use a script that automatically installed Trend Cloud One—a cloud security platform created specifically for those building on AWS—the moment the team spun up a new instance of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) to replace a damaged server. This allowed Banijay Benelux to restore essential business systems within a few days of the attack. “In 3–4 days, we had the most vital systems running so we were able to access our bookkeeping,” says Backbier. “We could pay salaries again.”
Trend Micro also searched the dark web for efforts to sell data stolen from the company. Fortunately, Banijay Benelux was able to secure its systems before losing any sensitive personal or confidential data that might have led to fines for violating the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Despite having to work remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trend Micro team met with Banijay Benelux three times a day to keep the company up to date on monitoring and recovery efforts. The security company also conducted an ongoing search for suspicious traffic to ensure that the hackers were no longer lurking.
Getting everything back to normal again took about 3 months. “We have production companies that organize a lot on Excel sheets and paper and that wasn’t affected that much,” Backbier says. “We lost the system where we do workflow for the invoices, so we had to do that by hand just to be able to pay creditors.”
Banijay Benelux had been in the process of implementing a new invoicing system at the time, so it accelerated that project rather than trying to rebuild the old system. As the weeks passed, the company gradually grew more confident that the hackers no longer had access to its infrastructure. “I felt completely confident after Christmas time—that gave me the feeling that we were in a good place,” Backbier recalls. Today, he adds, “I’m feeling quite confident. I’m sleeping well every night again, because Trend Micro is watching over us. I can have an 8-hour sleep again.”
By this point, Banijay Benelux had begun talking with Trend Micro about providing ongoing managed security services for its cloud infrastructure. “My IT team is rather small,” says Backbier. “You can’t have all the expertise compared to a company like Trend Micro. That’s its core business.”
Response Was the ‘Ultimate Proof of Concept’
Although organizations share a security responsibility in the cloud, they often require support to deliver it. As an AWS Level 1 Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP), Trend Micro has demonstrated the capacity to augment security teams’ resources with 24/7/365 managed detection, response, and support through its cloud security and XDR solutions and service teams. Today, Banijay Benelux has added confidence around its cloud security, thanks to Trend Micro’s 24/7 monitoring. It also knows that it has a partner that can jump in quickly to solve problems if a security incident develops. “I think what the hack proved was that they really can do what they promise—that gave me the feeling we made the right choice,” says Backbier. “That was the ultimate proof of concept for me.”
The ransomware incident also increased awareness at the company’s leadership level about the value of managed security. Now that it has a single dashboard to monitor security across its IT infrastructure, Banijay Benelux has deep and continual insights into its risk profile. “Security is high on everybody’s agenda,” says Backbier. “And that’s good.”
Kalman Tiboldi - CTO & Founder at GemOne-TVH - Simplify or Die: Why Complexity Is the Real IT Challenge
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CIOFEST 2025 - From Order Taker to Proactive Disruptor
This high-energy panel event explored how artificial intelligence is transforming enterprise strategy, operations, and culture. Industry leaders from AstraZeneca, Orange Business, Strategy and Soho House shared how they are reimagining their organisations to stay competitive in the AI era.
The evolution of AI is comparable to that of IT, but it’s happening much faster. As with IT in its early days, AI is becoming deeply embedded in almost every business function. Amara’s Law also applies here: we tend to overestimate AI’s short-term effects and underestimate its long-term impact. This makes it essential to embed AI across your company in a structured way.
This report provides a comprehensive overview of the event's insights and reflections from industry leaders, along with actionable takeaways for IT professionals aspiring to reach leadership positions.
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