Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1482987
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 OCTOBER 2022 15 Coordination Centre (NCC) for Malta with Mr Patrick Cutajar from the Malta Chamber of SMEs, Mr Daniel Borg from the Gozo Business Chamber, and Ms Marthese Vella from the Malta Chamber of Commerce. Ms Martina Bonanno, Ana- lyst at the NCC, and Ms Ya- neis Buhagiar introduced a new cybersecurity scheme that will be launched during the first quarter of 2023. This grant scheme intends to sup- port SMEs in the implementa- tion of state-of-the-art cyber- security solutions. Mr Kirsten Cremona mod- erated a panel discussion that addressed the skills gap. Mr Carm Cachia, Mr Mark Vella, Mr Conrad Vassallo, Mr Keith Cutajar, and Mr Grazio Grixti, spoke about the importance of addressing this gap that is cur- rently presenting itself in the industry, and what different Maltese academic institutions are working on to aid in clos- ing this gap. Ms Deborah Schiavone, Sen- ior Executive at the NCC, pre- sented the upcoming activities of the National Cybersecurity Community, intended to facil- itate discussions between the different Community actors. Mr Dimitrios Patsos end- ed off the Cyber ROOT 2022 Conference highlighting the importance of local cyberse- curity actors engaging in a Na- tional Community. From his experience, also from working at Microsoft, he explained how a common goal contributes to the overcoming of cyberse- curity attacks. The increased preparedness by sharing best practices and lesson learnt between different actors, can create a higher probability of overcoming cybersecurity at- tacks that can impact us all.