Learning from success: €1 million for research into cybersecurity
ISGA researchers have received €1 million for research aimed at enhancing the Netherlands' digital resilience. The funding comes primarily from NWO, but private parties are also contributing financially. In total, €10.5 million is being allocated to launch six projects.
Lead applicant Tommy van Steen (Leiden University) indicates that the researchers from the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) are focusing on organisations where things are going well for this project: From ‘what went wrong?’ to ‘what works well?’: Using Safety 2 principles to develop new cybersecurity solutions.
What works well?
Van Steen: 'Cybersecurity often revolves around learning from incidents. What happened, and how could it have been prevented? In our project, we are focusing specifically on organisations where things are going well. Why are they doing so well, and what can we as researchers learn from that? We hope that organisations, based on the knowledge gained, will shape their approach and strategy for digital resilience not only on what has gone wrong in the past but also on what works well in other organisations.'
Five years
The researchers will examine three levels: what is working well at the level of end-users, teams, and organisations as a whole? It is a five-year project that includes two new PhD positions and a postdoctoral position. The researchers involved are Tommy van Steen, Cristina Del Real, Jeroen Wolbers, Bibi van den Berg, and Sanneke Kuipers.