ABOUT BROEDERS VAN LIEFDE
Broeders van Liefde (“Brothers of Charity”) was founded more than 200 years ago by Petrus Jozef Triest. In Belgium the organization Broeders van Liefde employs 14,000 people. They manage more than 50 schools, 12 psychiatric hospitals and 13 ortho-pedagogical centers. Other activities include elderly care, addiction care, social economy and kids’ daycare.
An EASM + Managed Services customer since 2023, we talked to the ICT team about how the Outpost24 solutions help them in their cybersecurity activities. Frank De Bree is the Teamleader of ICT, staff member Diedrik Van den Driessche is responsible for following up on EASM, and staff member Claudia Van den Bosch specializes in cybersecurity within the organization.
INDUSTRY:
Healthcare, Education
Customer Since:
2023
Services used
Education and welfare organisation relies on External Attack Surface Management Platform
Implementing EASM for complete visibility on external vulnerabilities
Broeders van Liefde was looking for a way to get a complete overview of their online exposure and map all their external vulnerabilities. Additionally, the ICT team wanted to have the threat actor-perspective and see the ways a hacker could break into their organization. External Attack Surface Management (EASM) offered the solution.
Frank De Bree: “We lacked complete visibility on our external attack surface and wanted to know how vulnerable our organization is from the outside-in. What are the quick fixes we can do to become less vulnerable?”.
Saving time is key for the Broeders van Liefde organization. Therefore, automation in the EASM tool was of the upmost importance. Frank De Bree: “With the automated filtering and clear attack surface overview in the Sweepatic EASM Platform, we can quickly get a good grasp of what is going on in our online exposure.”
Cybersecurity challenges vs EASM
EASM proved to solve many cybersecurity challenges Broeders van Liefde faces. Claudia Van den Bosch: “From a security standpoint, the discovery and reporting on vulnerabilities is crucial. If a hacker finds those first, it’s fairly easy to find a way in. The EASM platform allows us to efficiently tend to these vulnerabilities before a bad actor takes advantage.”
The Sweepatic EASM Platform also helps to track down unknowns, like active HTTP websites without an SSL version. Additionally, Diedrik Van den Driessche comments: “Thanks to the cookie consent violation warnings coming from Sweepatic, we can take quick action when this website misconfiguration issue occurs, keeping us GDPR compliant.”
The NIS2 Directive on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the European Union is one of the biggest challenges for Broeders van Liefde today. The organization is considered an operator of essential services, both because of its size, and healthcare activities. Accordingly, they have to take extra security measures and be prepared for and report on serious incidents. The external vulnerability detection and continuous monitoring of the organization’s attack surface is how the Sweepatic EASM Platform helps with complying to NIS2.
Managed Services for prioritization and quick action
Because of the challenging resources at Broeders van Liefde, the ICT team opted for Managed Services in combination with EASM Platform access. This approach helps them save time and provides expertise on the EASM solution and on the cybersecurity matters at hand.
Thanks to the Sweepatic EASM Platform, Broeders van Liefde now has full visibility on their online exposure. All of their domains, websites, and other online assets are continuously monitored. Alerts are set up for the most important issues. The platform integrations allow the ICT team to set up the high-priority alerts in their Teams channel and Topdesk ticketing system. Additionally, the ICT team meets the Outpost24 Managed Services team monthly to discuss the crucial findings. Diedrik Van den Driessche: “The Managed Services team’s expertise helps us sift through the key findings and prioritize actions. This saves us time and makes it manageable to respond to urgent issues in a timely manner.”
Why they chose Outpost24
Outpost24’s Sweepatic EASM Platform provided exactly what Broeders van Liefde was looking for in terms of external attack surface visibility. The cost-effective pricing was decisive to become a customer.
Looking at the EASM Platform itself, one of the favorite features is the website misconfiguration warnings. Secondly, the categorization of findings and issues including a priority indication (from A to F), so actions can be prioritized. And finally, the total picture of the external attack surface of Broeders van Liefde in the EASM dashboard.