HSD Partners Share Their Knowledge with 'Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland' during Market Consultation Session

What happens when a Water Council can no longer do its work? The promise of the Water Council is: “Droge voeten, schoon water”. Therefore, the Water Council (Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland) has an emergency response organisation that is well prepared for all kinds of water crises. Yet what happens when they have to prepare for cyber incidents?

One of the components of crisis management is having access to a business continuity plan. This plan covers all kinds of scenarios and how to respond. The Water Council wanted to expand its knowledge about possible cyber incidents. But as it turns out, the Council did not know exactly how such an incident manifests itself and how they should respond. Also, they do not have in-house cyber experts who can be consulted. Thus Geraldine Beckers, crisis manager at the Water Council, has asked HSD for their expertise and network to guide and support.

Security insight

"HSD has a large network of companies and knowledge institutes that know about cybersecurity," says Beckers. HSD was very willing to help and Beckers was introduced to Securityinsight.nl, a knowledge & innovation platform. It’s a place where HSD partners share their knowledge, and at the same time organisations with a security challenge or issue can ask their questions. Beckers chose a market consultation session in which several HSD partners presented themselves and their vision of the challenge. After the presentations, the Council chose Chapter8 as a partner to help them with the complex cybersecurity issues.

Geraldine Beckers: "HSD has made an excellent selection of companies for us. Cybersecurity is a complex issue, so it's important to have a partner who understands and knows the security domain.”

Actively sharing knowledge

Pepijn Vissers of Chapter8 is excited that his company was chosen by HSD as one of the six companies to 'pitch'. Earlier his company took part in a market consultation on the further development of The Hague IT & Security Campus. "One of the reasons why we are affiliated with HSD is the possibility to share knowledge. Which is extremely important especially within cybersecurity. We want to actively contribute to the ecosystem and help to guide organisations to a higher level of digital security, especially in social and governmental area. The market consultations sessions facilitate this."

Pepijn Vissers: "The HSD ecosystem is unique. Every organisation has its specialisation. Together we can complement each other and help others on their way to their next level in digital security. HSD has a unique position. It is a neutral party at the centre of the cyber security field. Thanks to that independence, it provides a service not only for its partners, but also for everyone who needs expertise."

Spin-off

During the presentations, Beckers noticed that there is room for improvement in the pitches of the companies. Beckers: "The success rate can increase if you get more inside on the actually issue. Chapter8 was able to clarify the complex world of cybersecurity with easy to understand examples." To increase the success rate of the pitches HSD is going to set up a programme ‘pitching for government’.

Do you also have a cybersecurity challenge? Ask HSD partners for free! More info >

Read the interview in Dutch.