Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT topic. As companies become increasingly dependent on digital tools, cloud platforms, engineering data and connected systems, a cyber incident can quickly affect the entire organisation.

Printing International has worked with Fly By Wire for many years to manage and secure its IT environment. We spoke with Diederik Maes about today’s cybersecurity risks and the layered approach used at Printing International.

Diederik, why has cybersecurity become such an important business topic?

Diederik Maes:
Because companies are more dependent on IT than they sometimes realise.

Email, engineering files, ERP, customer information, shared documents, cloud applications — all of these are essential to daily operations. If employees suddenly lose access to those systems, the consequences go far beyond the IT department.

That’s why I see cybersecurity primarily as a question of business continuity. It’s not only about preventing someone from stealing data. It’s also about making sure the organisation can continue to operate.

Where does good cybersecurity start?

It starts with the basics: the network.

At Printing International, we manage the routers, switches, Wi-Fi and firewall infrastructure. The firewall acts as the first line of defence by controlling traffic entering and leaving the network.

But simply installing a firewall isn’t enough. It needs to be configured correctly, maintained and monitored as the IT environment changes.

Security isn’t something you configure once and then forget.

A firewall cannot stop everything. What is the next layer?

Correct. Threats can still reach a device through phishing, compromised software, malicious files or other routes.

That’s why Printing International uses SentinelOne on its computers and servers.

SentinelOne is an Endpoint Detection & Response solution. Traditional antivirus primarily looks for malware it already recognises. EDR goes further by also looking at behaviour.

For example, if a process suddenly starts encrypting large numbers of files — behaviour associated with ransomware — the system can identify that as suspicious.

How important are software updates?

Extremely important — and probably less exciting than talking about sophisticated cyberattacks.

Many attacks exploit vulnerabilities that are already known. A security update may already exist, but if it hasn’t been installed, the vulnerability remains open.

And this isn’t limited to Windows. Third-party applications can also introduce vulnerabilities.

At Printing International, we use NinjaOne to centrally monitor devices and manage patches for Microsoft and third-party software.

This means cybersecurity doesn’t depend on every employee remembering to update every application manually.

So how would you describe the security approach at Printing International?

It’s about layers.

The network and firewall provide one layer. SentinelOne protects the endpoints and detects suspicious activity. NinjaOne provides central monitoring and helps us keep systems patched.

Each layer has a different role.

If you rely on only one security measure, you’re assuming that measure will never fail. A layered approach recognises that threats can enter in different ways and gives you multiple opportunities to detect or stop them.

Can those layers guarantee that nothing will ever happen?

No — and companies should be careful with anyone who promises that.

You can significantly reduce risk, but you cannot eliminate it completely.

That’s why the next question becomes just as important as prevention:

What happens if something does go wrong?

And that’s where backup, recovery and business continuity come into the picture.

We continue with that in Part 2.

“Cybersecurity isn’t one product. It’s a combination of layers that need to be continuously managed, monitored and updated.”
— Diederik Maes, Fly By Wire