Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress arms the industry against cyberattacks

The sixth edition of the Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress (BCC), which will take place from 13 to 15 May, will bring together the international cybersecurity ecosystem with the aim of offering the best solutions to deal with the increase in cybercrime at a time when companies and industries are facing a scenario full of threats and challenges that put their security and operation at risk.

The unstoppable process of digitization of companies and industries, which has led to an increase in their levels of competitiveness and modernization, entails a high vulnerability factor of their increasingly interconnected computer systems. That is why in recent years there has been an increase in cyber aggressions ranging from attacks in which information is hijacked to those carried out to control devices, including the use Artificial Intelligence (AI) for identity theft.

This makes cybersecurity policies in industries and companies an obligation in order to allow them to carry out their daily activity with less concern about suffering a cyberattack. In this context, the sixth edition of the Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress, an event organized by Fira de Barcelona with the collaboration of the Agència de Ciberseguretat de Catalunya (ACC), will be held.

Under the theme ‘Building a safe future for industries’, the BCC will feature an exhibition area in Hall 8 of the Gran Via venue; a Congress, which will address issues such as the need to increase investments in cybersecurity, emerging technologies and supply chain protection; and a Hacking Village, where ethical hacking experts will put their skills into practice and share their knowledge.

The Director of the event, Roger Bou, pointed out that “the rise of Artificial Intelligence and the greater number of interconnected devices have exponentially increased the chances of suffering cyberattacks, which means that cybersecurity has already become a fundamental element in the strategic plan of any company or industry.” “From Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress, we want to contribute to the improvement of industrial digital protection with the participation of leading companies and with an attractive program of sessions to offer the best solutions that can be implemented today,” he added.

Leading companies and speakers
In this sense, the BCC features leading companies specialized in the development of solutions to minimize the impact of cyberattacks and digital threats such as Crowdstrike, EY, Fortinet, FTI Consulting, ManageEngine, SentinelOne, Sosafe, Threatlocker and Tenacy, among others.

In addition, the event has an extensive conferences programme, with keynotes and roundtables to stress the need to increase investment in cybersecurity to ensure business success, the effective use of data to improve threat detection, the use of Artificial Intelligence to identify vulnerabilities, the role of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) or knowledge of the regulatory framework, in particular, the European Union’s NIS2 directive already in force that tightens cybersecurity measures in companies operating essential services, digital service providers or public administration entities.

Speakers include National Automation President Steve Mustard; the Director of Technology of Ontinet, Alejandro Aliaga; the Global CISO of the Abertis Group, Olga Forné; Schneider Electric’s Vice President and CISO for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Frank Van Caenegem; the General Director of Sinektik, David Dickson; the Lead Architect of AI for the pharmaceutical sector and quantum computing specialist at Microsoft UK, Deepa Shinde; and the President of the SME section of the European Cybersecurity Organization (ECSO), Regis Cazenave.
Likewise, and with the aim of giving visibility and promoting the presence of women in the field of science and technology, on May 14, the will hold the STEM Women Congress, organized by the Global STEM Women platform, with the participation of Marta Pascual, CEO of Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, a quantum computing deep-tech startup; Maria Viadé, Director of Information Security and Data Protection Officer of Volkswagen Group Spain; Nadiya Shaik, Cybersecurity Specialist at Nestlé; and Elena Medina, Sanofi’s Iberia Digital Leader.

Ethical hacking
Along the same lines, BCC will hold a new edition of the ‘Hacking Village’, the show’s ethical hacking area, organized with the support of Beaware, CaixaBank Tech, Crowdstrike, Cyberwatch, Data-Warehouse, EC-Council, Edge Impulse, Forcepoint, Inetum, SentinelOne, S21SEC and Trend Micro, featuring an extensive programme of activities, workshops and presentations.

Here, hackers will put their skills into practice in two capture the flag (CTF) competitions and share their knowledge through talks and practical workshops on issues such as large language models (LLMs) for the development of Generative Artificial Intelligence and the role of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), among other topics, in order provide advice and practical indications on how to best hinder the action of cybercriminals.

A growing threat
Companies must face new challenges caused by the growing dependence on external suppliers, which makes supply chains a target for hackers, the extension of teleworking or the increase in the number of connected IOT devices, among other threats.

In fact, the National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE) has managed a total of 97,348 cybersecurity incidents in 2024, which represents an increase of 16.6% compared to 2023. 32.4% of these incidents (31,540) were registered in the industrial sector while the remaining 67.6% (65,808) affected the public. Likewise, a total of 183,851 vulnerable systems were detected and reported as vulnerable targets of an attack.

BCC will be held from 13 to 15 May at Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via venue together with the IOT Solutions World Congress, the international event on the transformation of industry through disruptive technologies, bringing together more than 250 exhibiting companies from around the world and a hundred national and international speakers.

Barcelona, May 2025

Edu Pérez Moya
93 233 21 66
eperezm@firabarcelona.com