Staying ahead of modern adversaries requires more than just reactive security controls—it demands proactive intelligence. On October 7th, 2025, Howest hosted an insightful Tech & Meet evening event at our Bruges Station campus that tackled this exact challenge.
The event, titled “CTI: From Threats to Intelligence,” brought two premier experts from the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) straight to our campus: Sandro Manzo (Lead of the Fusion Centre at CCB/CyTRIS) and Niels Desloover (Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at CCB/CyTRIS).
As a cybersecurity student focused on Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC), I found this session incredibly valuable for understanding how technical threat data directly influences strategic organizational risk.
Demystifying Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI)
The evening was designed to make the complex world of CTI accessible to everyone, from seasoned IT professionals and security officers to curious tech students. Sandro and Niels did a fantastic job of breaking down what Threat Intelligence actually means in practice.
A few core takeaways from their presentation included:
- Data vs. Intelligence: Raw data about a threat (like an IP address or file hash) isn’t intelligence until it is analyzed, contextualized, and made actionable for an organization.
- The CyTRIS Perspective: Hearing directly from the CCB’s internal cyber threat intelligence unit gave us a front-row seat into how national security entities track, analyze, and mitigate threats targeting Belgian infrastructure.
- Proactive Defense: CTI allows organizations to shift from a defensive, firefighting posture to a proactive state—anticipating what adversaries might do next based on global trends.
Community, Connection, and Networking
Beyond the technical insights, the Tech & Meet format provided the perfect environment for networking. The event brought together a diverse crowd of local IT professionals, security officers, and Howest students.
During the networking session, we had the unique opportunity to chat directly with Sandro and Niels, share real-world experiences, and discuss how different organizations are currently addressing the rapidly evolving threat landscape. For a student, having this kind of direct access to national experts is precisely what makes the Howest cybersecurity community so special.
Taking it to the Next Level: The Upcoming Masterclass
If the introductory Tech & Meet sparked your interest to dig much deeper, Sandro and Niels aren’t stopping here. They will be hosting a comprehensive, two-day Masterclass Threat Intelligence (in Dutch) on November 24th and 25th.
While the evening session was a high-level overview, the upcoming paid masterclass will focus on practical, actionable steps to fundamentally increase the cyber resilience of your organization. I highly recommend it to any IT professionals or security officers looking to build out an in-house threat intelligence capability.
Missed out? Keep an eye on the Howest event calendar for future Tech & Meet sessions. A huge thank you to Sandro, Niels, and the CCB for sharing their expertise with us in Bruges!