Security Expertise Centre: strong together against cyber threats

The Security Expertise Centre helps institutions become and remain resilient against cyber security threats and attacks. We do this by pooling knowledge and making it available on a single platform for all institutions. This offers economies of scale and facilitates knowledge exchange. Thus, together, we increase the cyber resilience of the entire education and research sector.

In development

The Security Expertise Centre is still in development. For example, we are holding discussions with the CISOs, the Coordinating SURF Contacts and the SCIRT and SCIPR communities, and we are surveying institutions to identify which themes should be addressed in the Security Expertise Centre.

Security Expertise Centre themes

In the Security Expertise Centre we deal with the following themes

Organisation

Who does what? Where does responsibility lie? And how do you ensure that policy is not only on paper, but also works in practice? This theme revolves around structure, direction and alignment. It forms the basis on which all other aspects of security rest, from human behaviour to technical measures. Without structure, direction and alignment, loose ends, duplication or blind spots arise. With a well-designed governance model, you steer consciously, prevent miscommunication and keep a grip on risks.

People and behaviour

The weakest link in cybersecurity? That's humans. The strongest link? Also humans. Whether it's recognising phishing, reporting incidents or working together during a cyber crisis - behaviour and awareness make the difference. In this theme, discover how to actively engage employees, teams and administrators in information security.

Processes

Processes are the hinges between strategy, technology and behaviour. They ensure that policy does not end up in a drawer, but becomes part of the daily actions within your organisation.

Whether it concerns the careful assessment of risks, the correct handling of incidents or the organisation of a crisis exercise: well-designed processes provide grip, clarity and confidence. They make information security executable, measurable and scalable, even when pressure increases or situations change.

Technology

Information security goes beyond policy and awareness. Without a technical foundation, your organisation remains vulnerable to cyber attacks, misconfigurations and data breaches. From network segmentation to e-mail security and from password safes to encryption, the right technology makes the difference between preventing an incident or having to put it out afterwards.

Think along!

The Security Expertise Centre is a collaboration between institutions, external partners and SURF. Do you have good ideas for the Security Expertise Centre? Would you like to contribute? Then contact Ed de Vries at sec@surf.nl.

To the Security Expertise Centre