Inaugural professor Gerard Hoekstra: technical, dynamic and convincing

Once upon a time, many young people enjoyed taking apart a transistor radio just to understand how it worked. That same curiosity can be found in the researchers and students of the Network and Systems Engineering Cyber Security research group at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. Part of the Centre of Expertise Cyber Security, the group consists of researchers who aim to make digital systems and networks more secure—gathering knowledge and sharing it with education, government and industry.

On Thursday 20 November, Professor Gerard Hoekstra delivered his inaugural lecture, during which he clearly highlighted the societal and economic value of this work.

A golden combination

Guests in the auditorium were welcomed by Elisabeth Minnemann, Chair of the Executive Board. She spoke warmly about Hoekstra’s work—he has served as professor since spring 2023—and praised the expertise within his research group: “With this research, we directly strengthen the connection between education, government and industry—exactly what we stand for as a university of applied sciences. We are very pleased to have a professor who combines technical expertise, vision and an exceptional ability to build bridges. That is truly a golden combination.”

Fear leads to the wrong kind of attention

The second speaker, Roel van Rijsewijk—author of Cyberrisico als kans and widely known in Dutch research circles as a ‘security evangelist’—looked back at his early career: “When I started out, talking about cybersecurity in the corporate world was like talking about going to the dentist. You didn’t really want to discuss it, and if you weren’t careful, it could be painful. Executives would only become interested if you could prove that better security increased revenue. That was the catalyst for my book Cyber Risk as Opportunity. If you use stories about cyberthreats only to spread fear, you create the wrong kind of attention. You can never achieve 100% security if you also want a system to be usable. What matters is keeping security risks manageable. And that requires knowledge—knowledge of networks and systems, and of the adversaries who seek to exploit them. Detect and respond. And that ‘respond’ part is all about knowing the innovations and applying them to networks, systems and their security.”

The urgency of cybersecurity

“How do we build a digital future we can trust? A future in which systems do what we expect and in which the damage remains limited when they do not?” These questions take centre stage in Hoekstra’s inaugural lecture, titled Possibility and Vulnerability: Technology Supports.

“One of the main motivations for our research is the earning capacity of the Netherlands. Investing in the security of networks and systems strengthens our competitive position. A second major motivation is safety. The energy transition is happening during a time of digital threat. We must prevent our vulnerable networks and systems—public transport, drinking water supply, aviation, the financial sector, and more—from being compromised.”

The digital dilemma

Hoekstra explains that digitalisation brings both progress and vulnerability. Innovations lead to higher productivity and new jobs, but they also create attractive targets for criminals. Recent large-scale cyberattacks—such as the one on Jaguar Land Rover, which resulted in weeks of production stoppages and enormous financial losses—illustrate this clearly. According to Hoekstra, this is the digital dilemma his research group faces every day: How do we benefit from digitalisation while preventing networks and systems from being misused? The answer lies in identifying vulnerabilities early and implementing measures that strengthen cybersecurity—always in collaboration with partners from education, government and the private sector.

Where technology and ethics collide

Technological innovation does not come without legal and ethical challenges. “Autonomous networks and systems create new values,” Hoekstra explains. Drones, for example, can facilitate rapid organ transport or enhance port security. But if such a drone captures a licence plate, the issue shifts immediately from safety to privacy.

Similar dilemmas emerge in healthcare. Digital innovations increasingly move parts of the care chain into patients’ homes, with data shared through the cloud. “The benefits are clear, but how do we keep the drawbacks manageable?” Hoekstra asks.

Three lines of progress

After outlining the dilemmas within the field, Hoekstra describes the three research lines of the research group:

1. Developing attack techniques to improve defence
   Networks and systems are attacked in a controlled environment to reveal weaknesses.
2. Building cyber-resilient infrastructures
   New methods are developed to secure IT, operational technology (OT) and the Internet of Things (IoT), and to detect and counter attacks. Senior researcher Eric ten Bos demonstrates how OT, IoT and IT can be disrupted. HHs students are actively involved in research that leads to practical action perspectives—reflecting Van Rijsewijk’s earlier remark: “It takes one to know one.”
3. Advancing data-centric security
   Here, the focus shifts from securing the environment to securing the data itself through encryption, with only the exchange of keys required during information transfer.

The right person in the right place

At the conclusion of the lecture, Rutger Leukfeldt, Director of the Centre of Expertise Cyber Security, addressed Hoekstra. He emphasised the importance of Hoekstra’s long-standing strategic partnerships, which strengthen the Centre’s mission to enhance digital security. “For our practice-based research, the technical approach of your research group is essential,” Leukfeldt said. 

He also praised Hoekstra’s way of working: driven, engaged, and always in collaboration with students, government and industry. “You are exactly the right person in the right place,” Leukfeldt concluded.