25 years with or within the Antivirus and Security Industry
Last week (9 December 2014) it was exactly 25 years ago one of my former managers gave me a diskette which appeared to be having the AIDS information trojan. At that time I was one of the first in the world to get a detection for it and who could reverse the situation from a trojanised machine back to healthy one. It changed my life completely. 2 years later I was one of the founders of EICAR. After that my whole life was dedicated to malware and security and I finally became what I always wanted to be: a Security Evangelist, actually a Cybersecurity Expert with deep knowledge of security and excellent skills to communicate technical stuff to non-technical people. If you want to refresh your memory about the AIDS Trojan you can watch my first TV interview (Dutch – VTM) from 9 December 1989 and find out that I changed a little bit.
I love what I’m doing. It’s my life and I’m one of the few which are not doing it only for the money. During those 25 years I’ve met a lot of interesting, brilliant minded and enthusiast people. The AV industry itself is also quite special and I still like to work with or inside this industry even after 30 years IT experience (not counting my university and school years). However some people involved are not always what they pretend to be and just do their job. It’s just a job for them.
It’s not a job for me, it’s much more, It’s my life.
And take it from me, there is a big difference if you’re driven by a mentality or principle to help the general public, companies and organizations in the continuous battle against cybercrime today.
I am ready for the next 25 years .. well that’s maybe a little bit exagerated. ;-)
PS: If you find less blogs from me these days over here just visit the blog page of G DATA or follow my Twitterfeed @EddyWillems or watch the media in your country.
CeBIT 2011 and G Data
CeBIT starts on March 1st in Hannover, showcasing the latest developments in the IT industry. G Data is using the largest IT trade show in the world this year to launch the next generation of security for businesses and home users. G Data presents this year’s trade fair highlight: Generation 11 of its network solutions, equipped with a powerful backup module in all Enterprise versions. Also being revealed is G Data MobileSecurity, a security solution for Android phones. Mobile phone owners will thus be able to effectively secure their mobiles against malware. Another first that will be announced in Hannover is G Data CloudSecurity. This free browser plug-in blocks infected websites,making surfing the internet more secure. Besides presenting these innovations, the provider from Bochum, Germany is also offering a comprehensive programme in the G Data Arena, Hall 11, Booth D35.
I personally will take part in the Global Conferences during a panel session about the importance of security which is detailed below. It’s an interesting line up of experienced speakers, CEO’s or VP’s which will be sitting next to me. I will be available for interviews and chats the whole week (minus Saturday) at our booth. By the way I like my new title: Global Security Officer. ;-)
G Data SecurityLabs expands team with Security Evangelist Eddy Willems
The English and French version of the press release …
G Data SecurityLabs expands team with Security Evangelist Eddy Willems
Bochum, 19. February 2010
G Data today announces they have a new team member: Security Evangelist Eddy Willems. He will divide his time between the G Data SecurityLabs in Bochum (Germany) and the Benelux team.
The Belgian Willems has been active in the field of IT security for over two decades. In that period, he has worked for influential institutes, such as EICAR, of which he is a co-founder and the director of press and information, several CERT associations, and the organization behind the Wildlist as well as for commercial companies, such as NOXS and Kaspersky Labs Benelux.
In his position of Security Evangelist at G Data, Eddy Willems will form the link between technical complexity and the user. He is responsible for a clear communication of G Data’s SecurityLabs towards the security community, press, distributors, resellers and end users. This means, amongst other things, organizing trainings about products, malware and security, speaking at conferences and consulting associations and companies about security.
WAVCI.com
Eddy Willems Anti-Virus Consultancy International
This is Eddy Willems’ official and original homepage for anti-virus and anti-malware consultancy with links to most anti-malware sites and companies in the world.
I advise you to have a look at my newer site www.eddywillems.be or www.wavci.com which is up-to-date.
This site will not be updated anymore and will disappear in the future!
This site was the reference in independent anti-malware advice and information. It is also known as the first Belgian anti-virus page and one of the oldest security sites on the Web. This site is renewed in September 2010 and exists since 1995. Within these pages you will find one of the most comprehensive lists of anti-malware sites in the world with over 10.000 links.
Eddy Willems is a worldwide known cyber security expert from Belgium. He is a board member of 2 security industry organizations, EICAR and LSEC, and is independent Security Evangelist at WAVCi, his own company. Since 1989, he is Belgian’s internationally most quoted cyber security expert. In 1989, Eddy was introduced to the early cyber security industry due to an incident with the very first ransomware, the AIDS information trojan. Willems still owns the last remaining physical copy worldwide. He became a founding member of EICAR in 1991, one of the world’s first security IT organizations. Eddy has been working for nearly 4 decades as cyber security expert for several security companies like G DATA, Kaspersky and Westcon. He is also COO of CSA (Clean Software Alliance) since 2024. In 2013 he published his first book ‘Cyberdanger’ in English, German and Dutch. He is also co-author of the SF cyberthriller ‘The Virus’ (Dutch 2022, English coming soon). Eddy is a known inspiring speaker and is giving lectures and presentations (including TEDx) worldwide for a very diverse audience from children to experts.
This site is and will remain always completely independent! (Site Design: Sonia Auger and Eddy Willems)
