Van Damme
Van Damme makes a clean sweep after cyberattack
On January 27, the family-owned company Van Damme was unexpectedly hit by a severe cyberattack. What began as a nightmare transformed, thanks to rapid collaboration with spotit, into a story of resilience, growth, and future-proof security. Discover how Van Damme reshaped its entire cybersecurity strategy within a few months — and what lessons they’re eager to share.
The Incident
Cyberattack brings everything to a halt
Van Damme is a family-owned company headquartered in Waregem, specializing in the sale, rental, and maintenance of professional and industrial cleaning machines. They operate in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Luxembourg. Service is their top priority: 24/7 availability for customers is their absolute core value.
On January 27, disaster struck. A ransomware attack encrypted the ERP system, servers, and multiple endpoints. Backups were also targeted, and a large part of the infrastructure was shut down. Without a clear playbook, Van Damme faced an enormous challenge: securing their critical business processes and customer service.
Our number one core value is providing top-level service to our customers. Our biggest fear during the cyberattack was that this service would be jeopardized.
The Approach
Swift and direct intervention by spotit
Although there were no prior contractual agreements, the spotit incident response team was on-site within 2.5 hours, taking the lead in managing the crisis.
A crisis unit was set up with separate rooms for management and IT to make quick, efficient decisions. The initial focus was on restoring operational functionality, particularly logistical shipments.
Thanks to the rapid setup of a new IT environment and the use of cloud-based (emergency) solutions, Van Damme was able to resume (albeit limited) operations after just two days. Within a week and a half, purchases and sales were back to normal.
Communication was also handled swiftly: the police, customers, and suppliers were transparently informed about what had — and had not — happened. Read the official communication (in Dutch): Update: Cyberaanval en Beveiligingsincident | Van Damme
The collaboration between Van Damme and spotit paid off. Thanks to the fast intervention, the impact on their core business was kept to a minimum.
In the following weeks, the entire IT network was rebuilt, including network segmentation, new firewall policies, uniform and managed switches, and centralized monitoring through the Cisco Meraki cloud platform.
The Results
From crisis to stronger than ever
The impact of a cyberattack on any organization is enormous. The costs associated with such incidents are also substantial — something Van Damme can confirm.
The positive side, however, is that Van Damme’s IT environment was not just repaired but thoroughly redesigned and strengthened under the hood. The network was rebuilt with a modern structure, better segmentation, and centralized monitoring. As a result, the organization now works not only more securely but also more efficiently: many daily IT tasks run more smoothly and require less manual intervention.
This experience also sparked a new awareness within the organization. Employees are now much more conscious of cybersecurity risks and the need to remain vigilant — a cultural shift that is essential for digital resilience. Even after the cyberattack, Van Damme continues to invest heavily in guiding and supporting its employees.
We didn’t just return to the way things were — we’re stronger, more aware, and better prepared than ever.
The Collaboration
Collaboration with spotit: clear leadership and a human-centered approach
Van Damme praises the collaboration with spotit on multiple fronts:
- Rapid response: on-site within a few hours, even though Van Damme wasn’t a client at the time.
- Clear leadership: spotit brought calm, structure, and decisively took the lead.
- Personal involvement: the experts stayed late into the evening, providing both technical and moral support.
“Without spotit, we would never have recovered this quickly. They were firm where necessary but also incredibly supportive. True partners in a time of crisis.”
– Joshua Tack, IT Manager, Van Damme
After this experience, Van Damme expanded the collaboration with spotit to include:
- Active monitoring via the spotit SOC (Security Operations Center).
- An incident response retainer for rapid intervention in case of new incidents.
- Periodic evaluations and security updates.
Lessons Learned
Hard but valuable insights
Facing a cyberattack also provided Van Damme with some important lessons:
- Anyone can be hit: cyberattacks are not a distant threat.
- Keeping calm is crucial: working in a structured way makes all the difference.
- Never skip steps: thoroughness always beats speed.
- A strong backup system is essential: it enables rapid recovery.
- The weakest link determines your organization’s cybersecurity strength — both technically and humanly.
- Investing in cybersecurity is necessary: not investing can cost you many times more.
- Crisis moments strengthen solidarity: team building at its finest.
- Sometimes luck plays a role: the timing of recent backups worked in their favor.
The Conclusion
As Joshua aptly summarizes:
“It was a tough nut to crack. We rebuilt everything from scratch. In terms of cybersecurity, we’ve taken immense steps and are ready for the future.”
By sharing their insights and experiences, Van Damme not only tells their own story but also aims to warn and inspire other companies and organizations. Cyberattacks can happen to anyone, and raising awareness is essential to collectively strengthen digital resilience.
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