As a tech business, we set cybersecurity high on our agenda. Not just our own security: making sure our customers are safe is what drives us.

That’s why we want everyone in Levi9, not just to be aware of the topic, but also to feel ownership. To achieve that on top of awareness programme, we run an annual cybersecurity event – Secure9. The event lasts a whole week and is a mix of sessions, competitions, and challenges – we make sure there’s something for everyone!

Normally we would do this in each of our offices – across all Levi9 locations, but, well, y’know… COVID had other ideas. But we didn’t let that stop us from pursuing our plans. Instead we asked ourselves: Could we bring the event to the digital space? Would it work even better online?

When it came to doing things like inviting customers to participate in the activities, getting the best speakers from all over the world, and hosting the event in one place, the answer to both questions was… Yes! After all it is not a space that connects us – it’s having the right mentality. But could we inspire everyone?

Active Engagement

At Secure9 everyone has the opportunity to participate in the sessions they’re most interested in. And as we want as many levi niners as possible to get involved, we went the extra mile in preparing some truly insightful content and arranging engaging activities.

For example, we held ‘Special Agent 009’ challenges throughout the week, and a ‘Capture the flag’ competition – a simulation where teams needed to exploit vulnerabilities in a system in order to understand a hacker’s mentality. This experience helped everyone better understand what we can all do to make the life of an attacker more difficult and to protect ourselves and our customers from potential threats. And a hands-on approach is a lot more memorable than an hour-long seminar

Together With Customers

Given the online format of this year’s events we were able to invite all of our customers – not only as keynote speakers but also as participants in our activities. While we’re in constant dialogues with customers around cybersecurity, having teams where customers work together with levi niners gave them a totally different experience and a truly deep insight into our approach to security at Levi9.

Admittedly, inviting customers meant some logistical challenges (like ordering pizzas and Happy Hour packages for the participants – everywhere from Iceland to Ukraine). But it was definitely worth the effort and we were happy to see the dialogue about security continue naturally also after the event.

Same Time, Same Place, Next Year?

Holding Secure9 totally online was a fantastic experience, and it was great to see everyone engaging in the same way, at the same time, in the digital space.

And on top of that we learned that:

  • holding an online event can lead to even better outcomes and attendance than on-site event (according to the evaluation, most people would prefer an online format for next year’s event)
  • including our customers in events like this help strengthening your partnership
  • cybersecurity can be a topic that brings us together, if addressed in the right way.

So see you at Secure9 2021? Same time, same place, next year?