Cybersecurity is becoming more important than ever: regulations, geopolitical tensions, and new technologies are creating an increasingly complex threat landscape.
David Vanderoost, CEO of Approach Cyber, makes it clear that cybersecurity should not only be seen as an obligation, but also as a quality label. The Belgian cybersecurity company grew from a general IT service provider into a specialist in cyber resilience.
From IT service provider to specialist in cyber resilience
Vanderoost has been with Approach Cyber since 2011. When he joined, the company was still a broad IT service provider. The focus on cybersecurity only came a few years later. That choice coincided with the rise of GDPR, which caused an increase in the demand for specialized security services.
“After a few years, we decided to focus entirely on cybersecurity and privacy. Then came GDPR, which led to many questions from customers.” That combination proved to be a growth accelerator. The company evolved from about thirty employees to a firm with a hundred specialists. Today, Approach Cyber positions itself as a partner for cyber resilience, a concept that Vanderoost says goes beyond mere security.
“We provide complete solutions for all aspects of cybersecurity. Proximity and pragmatism are important in this regard. We love turning strategy into concrete solutions.”
From regulation to quality label
GDPR created the first major wave of awareness years ago, and today Vanderoost sees a similar impact from NIS2, but with an important difference: companies are now better informed about cyber risks and often already possess sufficient maturity.
“I think GDPR was the first wave. Now we have NIS2, DORA, and soon the Cyber Resilience Act. Each wave pushes the market to a higher level of cybersecurity and resilience.” Companies therefore see regulation less as a burden and more as a tool to manage risks.
According to Vanderoost, compliance should not just be seen as an obligation. “Use it as an opportunity to differentiate yourself. Security is an aspect of quality. If you have a high-quality product, it also becomes easier to sell.”
Merger with AXS Guard
An important step in Approach Cyber’s growth was the integration of AXS Guard. “The founder of AXS Guard, Alex Ongena, is still active and became CTO within the group. We want to preserve the strengths and DNA of both companies.” The integration is therefore proceeding gradually.
“Thanks to the merger, we are now combining products and services to offer total/complete solutions. That is why digital sovereignty is important. Our software is designed and managed from Belgium and runs in our own data centers. That is a major topic today.”
Innovation as an answer to new threats
The speed at which cyber threats evolve forces cybersecurity companies to continuously invest in knowledge and innovation. That is why Approach Cyber established a new department that brings innovation, product development, and service delivery closer together.
“The goal is to bring people from sales, R&D, and delivery together so that our solutions always respond to the real needs of customers.” This allows new threats to be translated into product and service improvements more quickly.
According to Vanderoost, the challenge is also becoming greater. Companies must take into account regulations, AI, a rising number of cyberattacks, and a shortage of experienced specialists. “Finding junior profiles is not that hard, but finding good experts and managers is becoming increasingly difficult. Everyone is fishing in the same pond.”
“Cybersecurity never stops”
According to Vanderoost, many companies still make the mistake of viewing cybersecurity as a one-off thing. In reality, it is a continuous process of improvement, monitoring, and response. Most companies only wake up when it is too late.
“It never stops. In fact, we should have already solved yesterday’s problems.” He describes cybersecurity as a full cycle of risk analysis, prevention, protection, detection, response, and recovery. Once a company has recovered from an incident, the process starts all over again with the lessons learned from the attack.
In the ‘ICT in Belgium’ series, we focus on local, Belgian players in the sector. Do you want to discover more Belgian specialists? Here you will find all the interviews from the series.