Secure hotel automation is a must for every hotel

Prevent (hotel) data from falling into the wrong hands

In the hotel industry, digital security is of paramount importance. No hotelier wants company and/or guest data to fall into the wrong hands. The consequences are then incalculable. Van Staalduinen Automatisering has been helping hoteliers at home and abroad for more than 25 years when it comes to all aspects of practical and secure hotel automation. We therefore travelled to Assen, where director Patrick Vaatstra updated us on digital security for the hotel industry.

"Data and network security is not a luxury," Patrick immediately interjects. "It is a requirement. A must. We work with a team of 30 people, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to detect, respond to and recover from critical cybersecurity incidents and threats at our customers' premises. Advanced Security is called this service. This is done with VSA Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) software. This continuously monitors all equipment in the hotel (endpoints) for cyber threats and also provides a targeted response to threats and attacks. A standard virus scanner is absolutely insufficient if you want to talk about secure digital hotel automation. I cannot emphasise that often enough."

"As a hotelier, you are responsible for the security of your own business data, but also for the security of guests' private data. You simply cannot take risks with that," Patrick believes.

"Compare the digital security of hotel systems to the security of a house. If you have a house that is very well secured and a house that has minimal burglary prevention installed, which house would be more likely to experience burglary?"

IT security actually works the same way. "If your hotel automation has high-end security systems, then the chances of cyber attacks, hacks, viruses and other woes are many times lower than when only a simple virus scanner is running." 

"And so that's what EDR software combined with a good firewall does: make sure the 'rabble' doesn't get a chance to intrude. As a hotelier, you can then focus all your attention on giving your guests the best possible hotel experience. "

Patrick: "We ensure through EDR software and firewalls, among other things, that we are always one step ahead of cybercriminals. Minimally! More often than not, we are several steps ahead of them, which is of course even better," he agrees. "EDR software notices, for example, when a laptop starts behaving differently. If something is out of order, we receive an immediate notification." 

"A firewall works differently again; that is a device, which ensures protection of the network from outside threats. It is, as it were, the gateway for incoming and outgoing traffic. So you are assured of optimal protection day and night."

"Our systems stop many threats, but sometimes we also get reports that something is wrong. This is not necessarily something serious. During the holiday period, for instance, we often get reports of employees logging in from other places. We then always check whether the employee actually logged in at his holiday location, or whether something else is going on. If it still turns out that something is wrong, we place the laptop in quarantine and it is taken up further by one of our specialists."

Besides the right techniques and software, proper policy-making, training and risk awareness are important aspects for hotel data security. Creating awareness among employees is therefore an important step for hoteliers, according to Patrick. "Small actions can already make a huge difference. For example, think about locking your laptop when you walk away, or using a password policy. These are small points of attention for your employees, but the impact on security is huge."