“If an infostealer is active on someone's device, misuse can't simply be prevented.”

Rob,could you briefly tell us about your role at Graafschap College?

Of course! I've been working as the CISO at Graafschap College for 3.5 years now. In this role, I act as a strategic advisor to the Board of Directors and as a supervisor in the field of information security. One of the biggest challenges is the increasingly complex threat landscape, which impacts people, organizations, and technology. My job is to guide the organization through this and keep it safe.

Our organization is an attractive target, which demands a solid security policy.

Raising awareness is particularly challenging. This isn't just about the risk of colleagues becoming victims of, for example, phishing attacks but also about the collective responsibility to take information security seriously. Our organization is an attractive target, which demands a solid security policy."

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How did Passguard come to your attention?

A former colleague pointed out the importance of a dark web scan: had we ever done one? We hadn’t. So, we got introduced to Passguard. In less than 45 minutes, we understood what they do, how it works, and what it costs. We then discussed internally whether it would be valuable. After that, it didn’t take long for everyone to get on board.

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Why did you want to work with dark web information?

In the changing threat landscape, I wanted concrete insights. How interesting are we as a target? To what extent are we dealing with, for example, infostealers? The dark web is an area that you normally have little visibility into.

Additionally, I wanted to highlight the urgency within the organization. We often say that the threat landscape is growing and that we aren’t ‘flying under the radar.’ But how big is that risk, really? With Passguard, we were able to make it tangible.

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What has Passguard delivered for you?

We've seen that, even as a medium-sized vocational school, we are an attractive target for attackers. Our threat landscape is becoming increasingly alarming, the number of transactions related to our organization on the dark web is increasing, and infostealers are playing a bigger role.

the number of transactions related to our organization on the dark web is increasing

Of course, not all information is immediately relevant. Sometimes the scan contains outdated information or noise. You filter this out during the follow-up process.

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What would you say to someone considering working with Passguard?

I recommend everyone to conduct a dark web scan. The threat landscape is growing. You're being bombarded from all sides. If an infostealer is active on someone's device, misuse can’t simply be prevented.

However, ask yourself the following questions:

• What do you want to achieve? Formulate a clear objective.
• What is your scope? Focus on your most critical audience. For example, we involved our employees, not the students.
• What will you do with the results? Decide in advance what you want to do with them: will you share the information only with the technical team or also with decision-makers? Also, ensure you have the capacity to follow up.

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Great. Thank you, Rob!

You're welcome!

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