FROM IDENTITY TO CLOUD

On Wednesday, May 7, 2025, Upright Security, with the support of Pointury, hosted an exclusive roundtable and dinner at the Valke Vleug Winery in Puurs. This gathering brought together CISOs and CIOs for an evening dedicated to networking and insightful presentations on the evolving landscape of cybersecurity.

Guided tour of the winery

Valke Vleug Winery, located in Liezele near Puurs-Sint-Amands, Belgium, was established in 2016 when entrepreneur Jan Van Lancker acquired a dilapidated farmhouse without a specific plan. His vision took shape upon meeting wine enthusiast Pieter Raeymaekers, who had a longstanding dream of producing wine in Belgium. Together, they explored the potential of the land for viticulture and subsequently planted the first vines. 

The winery's name, "Valke Vleug," was discovered on an old cadastral map, referring to the original terroir of the area. The estate spans approximately 4 hectares, previously used for asparagus cultivation, and now hosts around 17,000 vines, primarily Pinot Auxerrois and Chardonnay. The first harvest took place in the summer of 2018, with the inaugural wines released in 2020. 

To oversee the architectural transformation of the property, the founders enlisted renowned Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen. He designed a contemporary winery that respects traditional Flemish farmstead aesthetics, featuring minimalist structures made from earthy materials that harmonize with the surrounding vineyards. 

In conjunction with establishing the winery, Van Lancker, Raeymaekers, and wine merchant Johan Stoffels launched Vinetiq, Belgium's first online wine boutique specializing in cool climate wines. Vinetiq operates from the Valke Vleug estate, offering a selection of refined and characterful wines from various cool climate regions worldwide. 

Valke Vleug has also become a venue for various events.

Scaling Securely with Okta's Identity & Access Management

Erwin Tanghe, Global Lead BIS at argenx, shared insights into how argenx leveraged Okta's Identity & Access Management (IAM) solutions to facilitate rapid scaling without compromising security. Tanghe discussed the critical role of robust IAM frameworks in supporting organisational growth, particularly in the biotech sector where safeguarding sensitive data is crucial. He underscored the importance of implementing adaptive security measures that can evolve in tandem with the organisation's expansion, ensuring that security protocols remain effective and resilient against emerging threats.

Enhancing Identity Governance & Administration with AI

Mark Van Tiggel, Director of Security and Cyber Resilience at Telenet, opened the seminar with a compelling presentation on integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into Identity Governance and Administration (IGA). He emphasized the transformative potential of AI in automating complex identity management processes, thereby enhancing accuracy and efficiency. Van Tiggel highlighted that as organizations increasingly adopt AI, understanding and mitigating associated risks become paramount. He referenced the growing concerns about AI safety and security, noting that organisations are now prioritising the development of risk management processes to address potential vulnerabilities before deploying AI solutions at scale. 

Netskope's Vision for the Future of Cybersecurity

Concluding the presentations, Kelly De Koninck, Solutions Engineer at Netskope, introduced Netskope's latest offerings and their vision for the future of cybersecurity. He addressed the challenges posed by the proliferation of cloud services and the necessity for organisations to adopt comprehensive Security Service Edge (SSE) solutions. De Koninck highlighted Netskope's commitment to integrating AI into their security frameworks, aligning with industry predictions that 2025 will witness a significant focus on AI safety and security. He emphasized that organisations capable of building trust with consumers through secure AI implementations will gain a competitive advantage in the evolving digital landscape. 

The seminar at Valke Vleug Winery provided a valuable platform for industry leaders to exchange ideas and strategies on navigating the complexities of modern cybersecurity. The discussions underscored a collective commitment to leveraging advanced technologies responsibly, ensuring that as organidations innovate, they also fortify their defenses against an ever-changing threat landscape.

The event was offered by Upright Security and its partners Netskope, Okta, SailPoint and Wiz.

• Upright Security is specialised in implementing the best of breed solutions for Identity Governance, Access Management & Zero Trust Network Access. The main focus is keeping your environment and company data save and compliant.
• Netskope is redefining cloud, data, and network security to help organisations apply Zero Trust principles to protect data. The Netskope Intelligent Security Service Edge (SSE) platform is fast, easy to use, and secures people, devices, and data anywhere they go.
• Okta gives you a neutral, powerful and extensible platform that puts identity at the heart of your stack. No matter what industry, use case, or level of support you need, we’ve got you covered.
• SailPoint equips the modern enterprise to seamlessly manage and secure access to applications and data through the lens of identity. SailPoint delivers a unified, intelligent, extensible platform built to defend against today’s dynamic, identity-centric cyber threats while enhancing productivity and efficiency. 
• Wiz Secures everything you build and run in the cloud. Use the Wiz Cloud Security Platform to build faster in the cloud, enabling security, dev and devops to work together in a self-service model built for the scale and speed of your cloud development.