Protecting education from cybersecurity attacks

The protection of personal data is one of the most important challenges facing schools and universities. In recent years, the educational sector has become more susceptible to cyberattacks and a data breach can lead to huge fines and endanger the school’s reputation. A weak cybersecurity infrastructure puts students at risk. Since the beginning of Holm Security Benelux, a lot of effort has been invested in strengthening the IT-security within the educational sector. Understanding the need for a structured IT-security approach is Pantarijn, a public-school community in the Netherlands. Pantarijn is a school where attention is paid to the development of talent. Pantarijn offers different education options from practical education to gymnasium across the Netherlands.

Maintaining a high-security standard

To protect against financial loss, prevent disruption, and keep student information safe, the team at Pantarijn decided to evaluate the IT security need. Looking for an alternative to the other security systems already in place. Steff Otten ICT Manager at Pantarijn highlights the need to get a good overview of all personal data processing, software, and systems. With the main priority to ensure the safety of student data, and to get a better understanding and overview of vulnerabilities the choice of product came down to Holm Security VMP (Vulnerability Management Platform).
Before using Holm Security VMP the team at Pantarijn had been actively worked with traditional security systems for many years, such as firewalls, antivirus software, periodic ICT audits by various third parties, ISO27001 checklist, and GDPR protocols.

Automating the process

Initial difficulties with the platform were quickly resolved with support and information from the Holm Security team. Together with better comprehension and a clear picture of vulnerabilities present in systems and networks, Pantarijn has now been able to address these vulnerabilities. The next step is to minimize the attack surface by setting up automated and periodic scans.

By detecting compromised equipment, weak points, and understanding the overall security level of servers and networks, the team at Pantarijn can evaluate the risks and understand what data is vulnerable to unauthorized access. An insufficient approach to structured cybersecurity is often an issue of a lack of funding and resources. With Holm Security VMP (Vulnerability Management Platform), all organizations can create routines and processes to reduce the number of weak points in the IT-environment and increase the general IT-security.

Systematic & proactive IT-security

It’s a challenge for many smaller sized companies, with fewer available resources, to work proactively with cybersecurity. Steff explains, “Holm Security supplies a good product that gives a clear picture of the security level of scanned servers and networks. It's very useful, especially for an organization that does not have a full-time employee focused on this part of ICTs." Holm Security VMP is the most cost and time-efficient solution on the market, helping customers to continuously identify and remediate vulnerabilities in all parts of the IT environment.