Become a member

Membership to the Cyber Security Coalition is open to incorporated businesses and legally constituted organizations such as sector federations. Individuals can participate in the Coalition via their organization’s membership.

Application for membership is open to any organization that meets the following criteria and is subject to approval by the Board of Directors. Eligible applicants should demonstrate that:

• The organization has been operating for at least one year;
• The organization is legally incorporated and located in Belgium;
• The majority of the organization’s voting rights is privately owned.

The organization contributes to the Coalition’s annual operating budget by the payment of a membership fee. The fee varies depending on the nature of the organization, its size and its access to significant additional resources (through ownership, partnership or linkage). The thresholds (staff headcount, turnover and balance sheet total) are based on the Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (2003/361/EC).

The following organizations are exempt from membership fees:

• Hospitals and health care centers
• Cultural institutions including libraries and museums

Membership to the Cyber Security Coalition is open to universities and higher-education institutions provided that the following criteria are met:

• The institution must be legally incorporated and located in Belgium;
• The institution must be accredited by the appropriate Belgian governing authority to provide higher education and to award degrees;
• The institution must be active in fundamental and/or applied research and education related to information security subject areas and be prepared to share the research results with the Coalition’s members;
• The institution must contribute to the Coalition’s mission and objectives by engaging in information security education and awareness-raising initiatives for children/students;
• The institution must demonstrate the necessary expertise for policymaking purposes.

Said academic institutions are exempted from membership fees.

Membership to the Cyber Security Coalition is open to any Belgian government or other public administration service, including public advisory bodies, at federal, regional or local level and any legal person performing public administrative functions under Belgian law.

The public administrations represented in the Coalition are involved in :

• Policymaking and establishing a national cybersecurity strategy;
• Developing relevant legal infrastructures that support modern ICT;
• Institutional organization and coordination of cybersecurity roles and responsibilities among appropriate government institutions;
• Public-private sector cooperation and industry regulation;
• Fostering cross-sector and cross-country cooperation and information-sharing mechanisms to reduce cybercrime;
• Developing industrial and technological resources for cybersecurity;
  Verifying the integrity of the country’s critical information infrastructures.

All bodies created and controlled by the public authority in order to satisfy a need in the general interest are exempted from membership fees. Other public sector organizations are subject to the same fees as privately owned organizations (cf. membership criteria private sector).

To be admitted as an associate member, you must be:

• A natural legal person domiciled in Belgium;
• Have a prolonged or intense experience in cybersecurity related domains;
• Boast extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience or occupation in a particular area of cybersecurity;
• Be recognized as a reliable source of expertise by peers.

The associate membership is a personal membership. Associate members do not have voting rights in the General Assembly. The annual membership fee is €1,200 (VAT excluded).