Eddy Willems

Last updated
Eddy Willems
Born1962
Alma materIHRB Anderlecht
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Scientific career
FieldsAuthor
Information security
Malware

Eddy Willems (born 1962), is a Belgian computer security expert and author of security blogs and books, active in international computer security organizations and as a speaker at information security-related events.

Contents

Career

Eddy Willems has been a security evangelist at German security software specialist G Data Software since the beginning of 2010. [1] He is involved in anti-malware and security research, consultancy, training and communication programs with press, resellers and end-users, as a security evangelist.

He started his career as a systems analyst in 1984, and while working at an insurance company he was challenged in 1989 by a Trojan incident, in fact a very early version of ‘ransomware’ malware, the AIDS Trojan Horse. His system got infected by inserting a (5.25’’) floppy with ‘aids/HIV’-related information (a questionnaire), resulting in a lock down of his system and a request to pay $189. [2] Figuring out how to get around this malware kindled Eddy Willems’ interest in computer viruses and resulted in a well received solution for this Trojan malware. Furthermore, it kick started his anti-virus and anti-malware career. Ever since, Eddy Willems compiles and maintains a reference library on the subject of viruses and malware.

Eddy Willems developed his career as security specialist initially at an insurance company (De Vaderlandsche – today part of P&V), followed by an added value distributor of security products (anti-virus expert at NOXS - a Westcon Group company) and at security software specialist Kaspersky Lab (Benelux, security evangelist). [3]

As his expertise grew, Eddy Willems joined international computer security organizations. In 1991, he became a founding father of EICAR (the European Institute for Computer Anti-Virus Research). [4] In 1995, he joined Joe Wells’ Virus Wildlist, reporting for Belgium, Luxembourg & for EICAR Europe. In May 2005, he became a board member of EICAR, as director of Press and Information. In 2009, he took up the position of director for Security AV Industry Relationships. [5] In 2010, Eddy Willems became a member and PR officer of AMTSO, the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization, joining its board in May 2012. [6]

In Belgium, Eddy Willems was a member of the first government initiated e-security team, on the website of the telecom regulator BIPT-IBPT. [7] In 2015, he joined the board of LSEC – Leaders in Security, an association grouping security companies active in Belgium and EU. [8]

Eddy Willems is active on the speakers circuit, with presentations for companies and consumers, as well as at conferences (see Publications section). [9] [10] . [11] [12]

He has been asked for comments and opinions by radio and TV-stations, both international (CNN, [13] Al Jazeera [14] ) and national (Belgium: VRT, [15] VTM [16] ), and national newspapers (De Standaard, [17] De Morgen [18] ). Eddy Willems regularly publishes opinions in ict-magazines, as Data News (Belgium) [19] and ZDnet.be. [20]

Education

Publications

Personal

Eddy Willems is married and has a son.

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ "G Data Benelux breidt team uit met Security Evangelist Eddy Willems (Dutch)". 20 October 2020.
  2. ↑ "'We may think of ransomware as a modern invention, but the genius idea at the centre of it dates back more than two decades'".
  3. ↑ "'Eddy Willems stapt over naar G Data' (Dutch)". 16 February 2010.
  4. ↑ Willems, Eddy (June 2003). "The Winds Of Change - Updates To The EICAR Test File (Article)" (PDF). Virus Bulletin.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ↑ "EICAR Board retrieved July 11th 2017". Archived from the original on 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2017-07-31.
  6. ↑ "AMTSO Board retrieved July 11th 2017". Archived from the original on 2017-11-05. Retrieved 2017-07-31.
  7. ↑ "'Vreselijkste superworm ooit' bedreigt miljoenen computers (Dutch)". 13 August 2003.
  8. ↑ "LSEC Board retrieved July 11th 2017".
  9. ↑ "BIO Eddy Willems ReadMyLips Website - Public Speaker".
  10. ↑ "Virus Bulletin Conference 2005 Teach your children well (Paper)".
  11. ↑ "Virus bulletin Conference 2010 Attacks from the Inside (Paper)".
  12. ↑ "Test Files and Product Evaluation: the Case for and against Malware Simulation (Paper)". AVAR Conference 2010. 2 November 2013.
  13. ↑ "CNN Transcript Interview Richard Quest with Eddy Willems: The Cloud and Security".
  14. ↑ "Appearances International Media".
  15. ↑ "VRT Radio Search". Archived from the original on July 31, 2017.
  16. ↑ "VTM news - Cyberattack in Belgium".
  17. ↑ "De Standaard Newspaper Eddy Willems Search".
  18. ↑ "De Morgen Newspaper - WannaCry comments".
  19. ↑ "DataNews opinions by Eddy Willems".
  20. ↑ "ZDNet Belgium opinions by Eddy Willems".
  21. ↑ Grooten, Martijn (24 February 2014). "'Cyberdanger' informs general audience of IT security". Virus Bulletin. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  22. ↑ "Cybergevaar (first book by Eddy Willems)". 11 August 2015.
  23. ↑ Cybergefahr (second book by Eddy Willems - translation and update of the original 'Cybergevaar').
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