30
June
2022
|
17:39
Europe/Amsterdam

KPN and Breens Network join forces for secure hybrid education

KPN and Breens Network are developing a 24/7 Security Operations Center for education

KPN and Breens Network have joined forces to develop a specific cybersecurity solution for all educational institutions, by combining KPN’s existing security knowhow with the knowledge and experience of Breens Network as an IT organization for the education sector. KPN and Breens Network are thereby responding to the appeal by the AIVD / National Cyber Security Center and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science / Education Inspectorate to improve the digital resistance to cyberthreats.

Remote working and learning have increased in recent years. COVID-19 caused a further huge rise in the use of digital teaching tools. This growth in hybrid education is essential so as to enable students to realize their social potential.

Increasing digitalization is also causing educational institutions to become treasure troves of personally and socially relevant information. Students and educational institutions have therefore become lucrative targets for hackers. Educational institutions are constantly at risk of having data – including personal data of students and employees – stolen and misused. Last summer, Kantar investigated the enormous rise in the number of cyberattacks at Dutch educational institutions. Hacking enables criminals to completely shut down educational institutions, resulting in huge social and financial risks to schools and their administrators as well as having potentially damaging effects on their students. Security threats are becoming ever more complex and damaging, and cybercrime is occurring increasingly often.[1]

Specific cybersecurity solution for the education sector
To tackle this risk, KPN and Breens Network have joined forces to develop – in conjunction with the education sector – a cybersecurity that meets the needs of educational institutions. This is based on standard building blocks that are already in use in the education sector and at KPN. It will enable educational institutions to enhance their resilience, step by step and with the help of these specific building blocks. By offering an “Education ICT Security Assessment” in combination with an extensive “Detection and Solution software module” (XDR), KPN and Breens Network are helping educational institutions to understand the vulnerabilities of their IT systems. This cybersecurity solution also enables educational institutions to make proper reports to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and to other stakeholders.

Thanks to this solution of KPN and Breens Network, educational institutions will be able to take the measures required by the Lower House of Parliament and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in the domain of cybersecurity. It enables educational institutions to give online (hybrid) teaching in a way that is secure for students and employees.

About Breens Network
Breens Network is an innovator in Dutch education whose ambition is to make a substantial contribution to the digital transformation of learning. We do this by supporting educational institutions in the field of digitalization and making innovations in that area. Breens Network operates in secondary education and senior secondary and higher vocational education and training in the Netherlands, based on three themes: digital working and learning environment, Cloud & Cybersecurity and Business Intelligence data apps. In the domain of cybersecurity Breens Network has a strategic partnership with QS Solutions in areas such as carrying out cybersecurity assessments and interventions for, and in conjunction with, the education sector. 


 [1] See for example “Binnen zonder Kloppen”, Education Inspectorate September 2021, and the recent debate in the Lower House of Parliament about digitalization in education on December 1, 2021.