Brainport Eindhoven will be the first region in the Netherlands to host a “Cyber Resilience Center” to help companies within the knowledge-intensive manufacturing industry against digital espionage and sabotage. The vital sectors designated by the government (such as health care, energy, port, etc.) have already taken cyber resilience seriously. Within the new center, SMEs in the high-tech region will also be able to connect to a collective system against online attacks. Ultimately, the business plan for this new center and the practical experience gained can be used to set up resilience centers for the knowledge-intensive manufacturing industry throughout the Netherlands.
More than twenty large companies from Brainport Eindhoven are already exchanging confidential information in the field of cybersecurity within the Eindhoven Cyber Security Group (ECSG). However, the highly intertwined ecosystem in the high-tech region will not really be as safe as possible as a whole until all players are resilient to cybercrime. For this reason, the ECSG, Brainport Industries, Brainport Development, BDO Accountants & Advisors and the Province of North Brabant jointly decided to further develop the expertise they had acquired into a Cyber Resilience Centre Brainport (CWCB). A first user group is currently working on further development. The center is expected to be operational by the end of 2018, with an important building block being the pilot project on information sharing and exchange carried out in cooperation with TNO and the ministries of EZK (the Digital Trust Centre, DTC) and J&V (the National Cyber Security Centre, NCSC).
Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations welcomes the initiative
“The Brainport initiative has been embraced by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate”, explains project leaders Robert-Jan Marringa of Brainport Development. Sandra Konings, chairman and initiator of the ECSG: “The members of the ESRB are pleased to see that their initiative is now also being taken up nationwide. They realise that the oral way in which they share information is not suitable for a large group of companies. Together with other stakeholders, they therefore formulated the need for an innovative digital cyber resilience center; an accessible online environment for confidential, fast and, above all, real-time customised knowledge sharing. With the ESRB as its starting point.” Eventually, this already existing group will be merged into the new CWCB.
According to Marringa, cyber attacks are a serious threat to all companies in Brainport Eindhoven. “The national and international examples of recent cyber attacks are numerous and the economic impact for a company and/or region can be enormous. Large companies such as ASML and Philips will be able to weather a cyber attack, but for SMEs that is very much the question”. Konings adds: “Chain resilience is therefore of really great importance. The exchange of information and cooperation are the key to cyber resilience, as we are becoming more and more digitally connected. At the same time, entrepreneurs in the smaller business community do not have sufficient knowledge and resources to be self-reliant. Within the CWCB, they too are enabled to better defend themselves against cyber attacks and/or to overcome a possible attack more quickly. Such a center is therefore an important contribution to the ecosystem of Brainport Eindhoven.
New employment
The CWCB’s four main tasks are in the areas of prevention (helping to prevent espionage and sabotage), detection (identifying and indicating a threat), response (helping to repel an attack) and recovery (helping to restore and reinstall security in the event of damage). The center will probably be a cooperative organisation whose members will jointly provide cyber resilience in the high-tech manufacturing industry in Brainport Eindhoven. This is based on the desire to improve the business climate in the region. “Where companies are given as much security as possible, they will be happy to establish themselves – and cybersecurity is of paramount importance. This will also ultimately lead to the creation of new jobs.”
Source: Brainport press release
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