Roel van Rijsewijk, new Director Thales Cyber Defence

No innovation without risk

Van Rijsewijk optimistic about cybersecurity

Huizen, 1 June 2019 - As of 1 June 2019 Roel van Rijsewijk is appointed Cyber Defence Director at Thales Nederland. He is the successor to René van Buuren, who has taken on a new position within the company to further shape Thales's cyber strategy in the Marine domain. "Cybersecurity is often very worrying," says Van Rijsewijk, "but things are not that bad at all. Certainly not among our target audience; the technology-driven, innovative organizations. Innovation by definition means vulnerable for risks. Cyber Defence and encryption allow us to manage those risks. "

Van Rijsewijk (46) is the author of the book Cyberrisico als Kans (Cyber Risk as Opportunity), in which he lays the foundation for a philosophy of cybersecurity. He also wants to carry out in his new position at Thales. Roel is a strong advocate of an optimistic view of cybersecurity and sees cyber risk management primarily as a strategic opportunity for innovative companies: "Cyber risks indeed can lead to value destruction, but more so to value creation if you can manage those risks."

If you want to be strong enough to handle the world, you must be prepared to be vulnerable.

According to Van Rijsewijk, it is healthy for ambitious organizations to not avoid taking digital risks at all costs. It is important to face threats, learn to deal with them and use them to become stronger. In fact, he would rather not speak of threats, but of opportunities. “Compare it with the fear of getting sick. You can lock yourself in your house, but that is not going to help you. If you want to contact the outside world, there is always a risk of catching a virus. That is annoying, but if your immune system is in order, an infection like that is just a bit unpleasant at most. At the same time, that same contact gives you the opportunity to increase your resistance. If you want to be strong enough to handle the world, you must be prepared to be vulnerable. But with caution of course."

In innovation, cyber risks are inherent, Van Rijsewijk states. “Companies have unprecedented possibilities to create new opportunities with technology, and almost all of those opportunities are based on data and data connections. People tend to see vulnerability in that, but it is much more helpful to turn it around: if you manage the inevitable risks, you can innovate better and faster, get more value from your technology, work more effectively and serve your customers better.”

I look forward to restore confidence in the digital world and reduce the fear of uncertainty

In his new position as Director Cyber Defence at Thales Nederland, he wants to focus precisely on that: “Thales Group is internationally involved in critical infrastructures at the highest level, from the financial sector to transport systems and from aerospace to defence. Cybersecurity is an enabler in all those applications and absolutely essential for success. The way in which Thales deals with cyber security to increase the resilience of organizations totally matches my view. We offer the best data encryption and digital identification methods, in which we are market leader thanks to our recent acquisition of Gemalto. We top that off with a managed service to detect attacks in time, subsequently respond effectively and remediate to a higher level. I look forward to restore the confidence in the digital world with Thales and reduce the fear of uncertainty.

Increasing the resilience of organizations has his full attention. “Cyber Defence means being prepared, and even being prepared to choose the offensive if necessary. If you want to be able to deal with Advanced Persistent Threats, you must ensure a coherent security chain for your mission-critical systems, including prevention, detection, analysis, reaction and response. With encryption and digital identification you are able to prevent as much as is possible. What you cannot prevent you then want to detect and solve as quickly as possible. All aimed at enabling the organization to continue to innovate and to get more value from data. ”

Roel van Rijsewijk has held various positions at Deloitte for twenty years, where he has led the cyber team as a partner. In recent years, Roel has served as Senior Fellow at Deloitte's Center for the Edge EMEA, where we helped Boards of Directors to seize opportunities through risk management at the cutting edge of business and technology.