Ghent (The Brussels Morning Newspaper): Ghent is enhancing its cybersecurity by collaborating with ethical hackers, receiving 18 alerts about vulnerabilities this year. They fixed nine serious issues and continue to address the remaining ones.
Ghent has been taking steps to deal with cybersecurity threats by working with ethical hackers. A recent report revealed that the city got 18 alerts this year from these hackers about possible security weaknesses in its systems. This information was shared after a question from council member Stephanie D’Hose from the Open VLD party.
How is Ghent leveraging ethical hackers to enhance cybersecurity?
Ethical hackers, or “white-hat” hackers, are cybersecurity experts who check systems for weaknesses to help organizations improve their security. They usually provide reports that explain the problems they find and advise on how to fix them. In Ghent’s situation, the 18 reports show that the city is dedicated to finding and fixing security issues before they can be taken advantage of by bad actors. The city’s response to these reports usually includes carefully checking the weaknesses that were found and then making the needed fixes or improvements to boost system security. They understand how cyber threats are constantly changing and that it’s important to have strong defenses against possible attacks.
It has been said that, unlike cybercriminals, ethical hackers have permission to test security. They may work independently or under a formal agreement with a company or government. Their main job is to identify potential security problems and provide detailed reports with suggestions on how to fix them. By following legal and ethical guidelines, they aim to improve cybersecurity and protect systems from bad hackers. This proactive approach helps organizations strengthen their defenses against possible threats, which is very different from the harmful intentions of cyber criminals.
Cybersecurity mentioned that last year, our IT team had trouble figuring out if reports about security issues were real, and we often got the same report more than once, wasting time. Now, we work with a company called Zerocopter to check these reports from ethical hackers before taking action. This year, out of 18 reports, half were serious problems, and the team fixed 9 of them while 6 are still being worked on. We collaborate with 1,500 ethical hackers to find issues, and although this partnership started this summer, it hasn’t produced results yet. We must protect the personal information of our residents from ongoing cybercrime.
