There are many misconceptions about hackers, yet today many hackers earn a legal living from their work. "Companies need our skills to be protected. Being a hacker has become a full-time job. Moreover, Belgium recently adopted legislation on this subject to regulate their activity”, explains Maxime Lamarche, Business Unit Manager at Easi, a Belgian company specialized in the IT sector since 1999.
In 2021, one in eight Belgian companies will have been affected by a ransomware attack. Today, buying a firewall or an XDR solution is no longer enough to protect companies from IT threats. Hacking technologies are evolving fast and solutions must keep pace. That's why Easi has invested over €9 million in its cyber security business in 2022. "One of the first ways to protect a business is to help it become aware of the many cyber threats it could be the target of.. How do you do this? Firstly, by making its engineers aware, but also its employees. One of our tasks, as security engineers, is to train them to perceive the danger before the damage is done. It is better to prevent than to cure. In a second phase, we will also offer to test their security system to detect its vulnerabilities in order to advise them on solutions adapted to their weaknesses," explains Mickey, security engineer and ethical hacker at Easi.
Black Hats VS white Hats
The job of an ethical hacker is essentially to examine clients' IT environments for various vulnerabilities. "We try to exploit their vulnerabilities. If they are exploitable, and we manage to penetrate a server, we inform the client immediately. We then propose appropriate solutions," explains Maxime Lamarche.
Nevertheless, there is a thin line between cybercriminals and ethical hackers. They use the same techniques, but their goals are different. The former have harmful intentions (stealing data, money, etc.), while the latter try to break into companies' systems, with their permission, in order to raise awareness of IT security vulnerabilities. This is what we in the IT industry call a 'penetration test'. "Compare this to a car that has been through a hundred crash tests to find out how safe it is and where its vulnerabilities are. The same applies to companies. They must continue to test every layer that can be attacked regularly and thoroughly. However, very few, if any, companies today have this reflex," explains Robin, security engineer at Easi.
There are many potential security holes. That's why Easi's ethical hackers don't just breach their customers' security systems. They will also suggest improvements and solutions that customers can select according to their information system and business.
The importance of cybersecurity in Belgium
Belgium has great ambitions in terms of cybersecurity, as it developed and presented an ambitious plan on this subject in May 2021. The main goal of this plan is to "propel our country to the rank of the least vulnerable countries in Europe in the field of cybersecurity by 2025" (extract from an interview in the newspaper L'Echo). Belgium, for example, has set up a "Cyber Command", a branch of the army specializing in this area. "The threat is very real, especially for SMEs, because the solutions to protect themselves are expensive. At Easi, we have developed a solution especially for them, BlueHorn, because we don't want them to have to choose between protecting and developing themselves," concludes Maxime Lamarche.
Want to know more about the subject?
You can visit this page on our website:
https://easi.net/fr/solutions/security/penetration-testing/ethical-hack…
About BlueHorn
BlueHorn is a solution that allows companies to become actors of their security. Once deployed, this solution quickly provides the visibility needed to detect and contain threats in order to minimize the negative impact of a potential attack.
About Easi
Easi is a Belgian IT company that has been providing IT services and software to medium and large enterprises since 1999. In software, IT infrastructure, cloud and security. Easi aims for short implementation times and high added value for its customers: flexible solutions for companies that want a partner close to them. Easi also places great emphasis on the well-being of its 500 employees. Every year since 2015, Easi has been voted 'Best Place to Work' in Belgium. About Great Place to Work.