“Everyone in our organisation is fully aware of the value”
“I’ve been active in the security sector for several decades, and have been reflecting on how security professionals can share information openly and constructively for a long time,” says Moerman. “Towards the end of my tenure as chair of the Belgian chapter of ISSA, we started, together with other associations like ISACA Belgium, building bridges between government, industry and academia. This helped planting the seeds that would, some 10 years later, grow into the Coalition, amongst others driven by some people of the same group.”
From legal islands to cyber bridges
Given this background, it is no surprise that Moerman was immediately convinced of the added value that Coalition membership could bring to Fednot. “We are the country’s largest federation, with the largest ICT infrastructure to match. Due to the administrative complexity of the notarial world extensive automation is the only economically viable solution for the notarial profession. Fednot also sits at the crossroads of several administrations, public authorities and private entities, putting it in a position where its security challenges closely mirror those in other sectors. As a result, knowledge-sharing becomes particularly valuable.”
According to Moerman, many sectors and SMEs, due to their long history of self-organisation, are quite isolated for their supporting activities like cyber. This is absolutely what the notarial sector wants to avoid and joining the Coalition helped it overcome. “We also have a lot to offer to the wider security community. For example, the significant amount of new regulation impacting our sector gives us valuable insights on topics such as implementation that we can contribute to the community. We know that there are other parties facing the same challenges.”
New rules, new roadmaps
With additional regulations in the works and changing business for the notarial world, Fednot is taking steps to prepare. “As part of the broader movement around new frameworks such as NIS2, we’ve developed a roadmap that aims to lead our entire organisation towards ISO 27001 certification as cornerstone. Fednot clearly understands the value and importance of this journey and is fully on board.”
In fact, awareness around security and especially collaboration with Fednot customers, partners, partner organisations, administrations is already high on Fednot’s agenda. “This is reflected in our contribution to the GRC focus group, of which we are a member,” Moerman adds. “But that doesn’t mean we can reduce our efforts. On the contrary, we need to keep investing in awareness, both among the notaries themselves and their IT partners, who play just as crucial a role. That’s why we will continue to try to foster a collaboration between all those parties aiming to focus on the interest for the entire ecosystem.”
