In light of the tightening legislation in the upcoming years, Vestforbr\u00e6nding strengthens cybersecurity by implementing new security technology as well as 24\/7 monitoring of their network traffic. The result is a more resilient infrastructure, better preparedness \u2013 and notably more peace of mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Thomas F\u00e6n\u00f8 was hired as the IT manager at the Danish waste and energy company Vestforbr\u00e6nding, he was tasked with elevating cybersecurity. This happened immediately following the major SolarWinds hack, which sent shockwaves through many organizations worldwide. Although Vestforbr\u00e6nding did not have data stolen or misused in connection with the SolarWinds attack, they were still vulnerable. Hence, the management desired a generally heightened focus on security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe quickly defined five pillars on which our security should stand,\u201d<\/em> begins Thomas F\u00e6n\u00f8. \u201cThe first pillar was leadership, where we now use ISO 27001 as a management tool to, among other things, uncover risks and lay out a new strategy for incident management. The second pillar was hardening, where we looked at endpoint protection, firewalls, routers, and switches to determine if our infrastructure was robust enough. The third pillar was monitoring, where we examined our detect, response, and SOC capabilities. And the final two pillars were preparedness and training, where we reviewed our disaster recovery processes and focused on targeted education and training of our employees based on their roles.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thomas F\u00e6n\u00f8 explains that Vestforbr\u00e6nding will be subject to the NIS2 directive and, therefore, must comply with a wide range of enhanced cybersecurity requirements starting from October 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have utilized ISO 27001 and CIS18 controls as tools to enhance our security. With these two standards, we make significant progress towards NIS2 compliance \u2013 and also towards compliance with the EU\u2019s CER \u2013 Critical Entities Resilience Directive \u2013 which Vestforbr\u00e6nding will also be subject to from October 2024.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n We don\u2019t have the resources to maintain 24\/7 monitoring on our systems ourselves. It would require us to hire 8-10 administrators, and it simply wouldn\u2019t be cost-effective. It\u2019s much more efficient for us to have an external SOC service in place, which can inform us about what has happened and intervene on our behalf to stop or mitigate the effects of an incident<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The review of Vestforbr\u00e6nding\u2019s infrastructure at a system technical level revealed the need for better firewall security and improved endpoint protection. Therefore, they have implemented Palo Alto Networks\u2019 next-generation firewalls and Palo Alto Network\u2019s Cortex XDR Pro solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn terms of the contingency plan, which is mandatory for all actors in the energy sector, we were not resilient enough. It\u2019s fine to have managed detect and response solutions, but if there\u2019s no one ready to respond to incidents on a Saturday night, it doesn\u2019t really matter. That\u2019s why we needed monitoring capacity that could act on our behalf around the clock and had the authority to stop the incident if something happened,\u201d<\/em> says Thomas F\u00e6n\u00f8.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe external SOC responds outside of working hours<\/h2>\n\n\n\n