Cybercriminals are constantly looking for valuable data. And that often turns public institutions, such as hospitals, into their prime targets. In order to arm themselves as effectively as possible and to increase the security of their IT environment, AZ Turnhout teamed up with our experts. Wondering how that worked out? Thomas Verheyden, our Cyber Security Advisor, is more than happy to tell you.

“For hospitals, safe systems mean safe patients.
So, by keeping every device secure, we’re actively protecting human lives.”

An acute problem 

Several years ago, the IT team at Heilig Hartziekenhuis in Mol was hit by a cyber attack, thankfully without any consequences. As a result, AZ Turnhout also decided to tighten their security strategy.

“As a General Hospital, we have a very large database of medical data,” says Manu Vanden Broeck, IT Director at AZ Turnhout. “And to protect that valuable data from hackers, we have to thoroughly monitor the security of our systems.”

To achieve this, they wanted to invest in preventive measures to avoid incidents. And because HH Mol already had a successful track record with us, AZ Turnhout found their way to us as well.

As with any project, we always start with a comprehensive security assessment to identify the weakest points in the IT infrastructure. Based on the results, our experts developed a number of recommendations for AZ Turnhout. One of the key improvements was to set up a Security Operations Center (SOC), allowing them to monitor their systems 24/7. 

We also implemented the following tools from the M365 Security Stack: 

• Microsoft Defender XDR to coordinate risk detection, prevention, and response.

• Entra ID and Microsoft Intune to provide additional security for user authorization and access.

• External Attack Surface Management (EASM) to gain a better understanding of potential cyber risks. 

Once everything is set up, we’re constantly proposing and implementing optimizations. “Every month we get an extensive security score. And in our case, it keeps going up,” says Manu proudly. “One of our internal security engineers is working very hard every single day to remove all possible vulnerabilities.” 

A positive collaboration 

Cybercrime and legislation around security is changing at an extremely fast pace. So, that’s why we keep supporting AZ Turnhout along their journey, by giving them expert advice to keep their security on point. 

“It’s really important for us to have a partner that can quickly identify vulnerabilities. And also to have a strong internal team that can actively work on our security,” Manu continues. “The cooperation with SecWise is going really well. They come up with suggestions and actively check if everything keeps running smoothly. And that, of course, makes us feel a lot safer.” 

Plans for the future? They certainly have them: “We’ve also had a NIS2 analysis conducted in the meantime. And for that, we’ve already drawn up a whole roadmap, together with SecWise, to help us become compliant.” 

Want to take a hard look at your security? 

Let our experts analyze your infrastructure. We’re eager to help your organization further optimize its security.