Announcement

October is just around the corner and, as usual, that means paying extra attention to information security. European Cybersecurity Month is THE opportunity to inform and raise awareness among your colleagues and end-users and turn them into true cyber heroes. Still looking for inspiration or ready-to-use communication material? Keep an eye on the GÉANT website!

Earlier this year, we announced that Belnet was collaborating on the roll-out of a Quantum Key Distribution network in Belgium. The BeQCI project brings together partners from the R&E sector and industry to set up and test this promising technology in our country. Jo Segaert, network engineer at Belnet and lead 'deployment' of BeQCI, gives us an update.

For several years now, Belnet has been supporting the annual information security awareness campaign of the pan-European research network GÉANT. The 'human factor' is in fact a crucial element in the fight against security incidents. It is no different for research and educational institutions.

From 1 January 2022, Belnet will take over the management of DMPonline.be from the DMPbelgium Consortium. This tool allows researchers to draw up, manage and share digital data management plans. Some twenty universities, colleges and research centres already use DMPonline.be.

Blockchain is the future. This technology is transforming our society. This is why the European Commission and the European Blockchain Partnership are building the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), striving for blockchain technology serving European citizens with services based on European values. The Early Adopters programme and multi-university pilot are showing how Europe's emerging Blockchain Infrastructure will look in practice. 

Last month, Belnet was appointed as the mandated organisation of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Association for Belgium. The aim of EOSC is to create a new European web of data as a means of stimulating interdisciplinary research and thereby boosting science and the economy. Belnet's role within this ambitious project will be a coordinating and operational one.

The month of October is traditionally dedicated to cyber security. We would like to draw your attention to 2 interesting initiatives: the European research and education network GÉANT is launching a campaign to raise cyber security awareness within its community and the national awareness campaign will be focusing on two-factor authentication this year.

Belnet has implemented a plan in response to the outbreak of the corona virus in our country. In this way we wish to guarantee the continuity of our service and protect our employees.

More than 80 institutions have already expressed their interest and a dozen of them have already made a formal commitment.