The implementation of KnowBe4 has led to increased security awareness at Strijbosch

Acknowledge carried out a full implementation of KnowBe4 to automate and enhance privacy and security awareness for Strijbosch.

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From its headquarters in Nistelrode, Strijbosch sells and rents a wide range of professional, household, and audiovisual equipment. They were looking for a tool to help them increase privacy and security awareness within their organization. Acknowledge recommended KnowBe4. We spoke with IT Manager Marco van Eck (Strijbosch) and our security consultant Wojciech Filipowski about the implementation process.

Security Awareness

Employees play a crucial role in protecting sensitive data and systems. Many incidents are caused by human error. A single wrong click, a weak password, or inadvertently sharing information can have serious consequences. “Employees must be aware of digital risks and be able to make safe choices in their daily work. In an environment where cyber threats are constantly increasing, raising this awareness is not a luxury, but a necessary basic measure,” explains Wojciech. For Strijbosch , privacy and security awareness is therefore an important part of their policy.

Training tool

Strijbosch has long been aware that cybersecurity awareness is a hot topic. Marco: “We used to provide our staff with an annual in-person course to raise awareness about cybersecurity. It was appreciated, but an hour isn’t enough. There are so many topics to cover. Moreover, this was very labor-intensive, and we had little insight into the impact.” Marco therefore went in search of a training tool with a wide range of content and the ability to add courses himself. On the advice of IT Acknowledge, they chose KnowBe4, the world’s largest provider of long-term security awareness training and simulated phishing.

Support

Before Marco could get started with KnowBe4, he had to build the necessary support within the organization. “Fortunately, the board quickly recognized the need for a tool like KnowBe4,” Marco shares. “After that, I spoke with the managers. They, too, saw the value, but were hesitant about the time commitment. Training for fifteen minutes every month naturally takes more time than one hour a year.” Fortunately, Marco was able to convince the managers with the tool’s extensive dashboard capabilities and the phishing test it offers.

Optimal implementation

In the early stages of implementation, integrating the platform with EntraID proved to be a technical challenge. Thanks to close collaboration with our partner KnowBe4, the tool was ultimately successfully implemented within Strijbosch’s work environment. Strijbosch’s marketing team then introduced the tool to the organization in a creative way. Marco: “We let employees know weeks in advance that a ‘new employee’ was coming who would be monitoring them. That really got people talking within the organization. Eventually, we revealed that it was actually a tool. We got some great reactions to that!”

Automation

Although some employees still need a lot of encouragement to take the training courses, Marco has noticed that there’s a lot of interest: “People regularly stop by to ask about the next training session or to offer a compliment. News stories like the data breach at Odido help raise awareness. People see that things can go seriously wrong.” In the future, Strijbosch wants to add its own content to the platform. They also aim to automate more and more of the tool. “When an employee falls for the phishing test, we want to offer a customized training session,” Marco explains. “Right now we have to do that manually, but in the future, with the new AI applications, it will be a lot easier.”

Continuous process

Wojciech has set up the training sessions and phishing simulations in the tool for the first half of the year. He is also assisting Strijbosch in improving the reports. “This is the starting point of a broader, ongoing initiative. After all, security awareness isn’t a one-time project, but a continuous process of development, measurement, and improvement. Through periodic campaigns, training sessions, and analysis of results, employee awareness is gradually strengthened,” says Wojciech. Marco is very satisfied with the collaboration: “Wojciech is very driven and enthusiastic and always has an answer to my questions. I am very satisfied and would therefore rate the collaboration an eight!”