Z-CERT throws beer mat in fight against cyber attacks

Your files are encrypted," you see on your computer screen in bright red letters. And if you want to pay a huge amount of money, otherwise your entire organization's system will be down. In many cases panic sets in, because what should you do? Expertise center Z-CERT has developed a handy overview that fits on the back of a beer mat.

Be well prepared, because things can always go wrong. That is about the most important advice Jeroen Brouwer, business consultant at Z-CERT, gives to healthcare organizations. The cybersecurity expert had no complaints about the interest in his presentation at Zorg & ict. The room was bursting at the seams, there were even people sitting on the floor. All came for the answer to the question "Is your organization cyber resilient?".

Tile Wisdom

"Good preparation is half the battle," Brewer begins his talk, "and after that comes practice, practice, practice." Because, he admonishes his audience, "what you rarely do rarely goes well." A tile wisdom with a high truth content, he knows from experience. According to the cybersecurity expert, it comes down primarily to how seriously a healthcare organization takes the threat.

"Prepare your people for a crisis, make sure you have your processes in place and that the technology works. Then, should things still go wrong, we will be there to help. But we'd rather see organizations become active themselves and do everything they can to prevent a cyberattack."

Ransomware

The Z-CERT Foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides healthcare institutions with advice and threat intelligence. The foundation, which is not for profit, depends on contributions from participating healthcare institutions and subsidies from the government. Z-CERT, short for Computer Emergency Response Team, has as its main mission to make healthcare institutions more digitally resilient. No superfluous luxury in a time of geopolitical uncertainties, in which cybercriminals are also becoming increasingly clever and ransomware is lurking, Brouwer believes.

With a clear roadmap full of logical steps and measures to be taken, Z-CERT provides healthcare organizations with tools to screen their own cyber defenses and to actively act on them. Brouwer: "What does the organization consider important, are the roles and tasks well divided and clear, what are its ambitions and are sufficient finances available to carry them out? These are some of the components of the RTD (Training, Education, Exercise) program that we have developed especially for this purpose."

Emergency cyberattacks package

The beer mat is a handy tool, allowing healthcare organizations to quickly measure their cyber resilience and what measures are needed. "You can see at a glance where you stand and where you want to go as an organization, which makes the felt very practical," says Brouwer, who insists on being well prepared for possible cyber attacks, which he does not consider imaginary. "Especially in healthcare, continuity is vital, so we want to guarantee that. Think of our help with that as part of the emergency package for your organization."