Eddy Willems

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

Career

Eddy Willems is a security evangelist at German security software specialist G DATA ^[1]. He joined the company at the beginning of 2010.^[2] 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 ^[3].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. ^[4] 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).^[5]

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). 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. ^[6] In 2010, Eddy Willems became a member and PR officer of AMTSO, the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization, joining its board in May 2012.^[7]

In Belgium, Eddy Willems was a member of the first government initiated e-security team, on the website of the telecom regulator BIPT-IBPT.^[8] In 2015, he joined the board of LSEC – Leaders in Security, an association grouping security companies active in Belgium and EU.^[9]

Eddy Willems is active in the speakers circuit, with presentations for companies and consumers, as well as at conferences.^[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] en ZDnet.be^[20].

Education

IHRB 1982-1984, computer sciences

Vrije Universiteit Brussel 1980-1982, computer sciences

Publications

Eddy Willems wrote several security white papers including Teach your children well ^[11] (co-authored with David Harley - 2005) and Attacks from the inside ^[12] (co-authored with Righard Zwienenberg - 2010).

He wrote ‘Cybergevaar’ (Lannoo, 2013), a book detailing the dangers and solutions regarding computer security, targeting a readership of consumers and small business. It sketched the history of computer viruses and malware, specific cases, as well as tips and solutions to protect against viruses and malware. ^[21]

In 2015, an updated edition was published in German,’Cybergefahr’ (Springer). ^[22]

Eddy Willems wrote the original article on viruses in the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia (US Ed., 1997-…).

Personal

Eddy Willems is married and has a son.

External links

www.anti-malware.info

www.eddywillems.be

References

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