E.ON reinforces security team skills and collaboration with HTB

Their story

E.ON is an international investor-owned energy company headquartered in Essen, Germany, which focuses on energy networks and customer solutions. As one of Europe's largest energy companies, E.ON plays a leading role in shaping a clean, digital, decentralized world of energy. 

To this end, around 74,000 employees develop and sell products and solutions for private, commercial and industrial customers. Around 48 million customers purchase electricity, gas, digital products or solutions for electric mobility, energy efficiency, and climate protection from E.ON.

Their goal

As energy supply is the most critical of all critical infrastructures, E.ON knows there is no room for error or weaknesses within their operations. This is why they place particular emphasis on employee training.

Prior to their introduction to Hack The Box (HTB), the E.ON security teams struggled with limited interaction between staff located in different offices or countries. In addition, these geographic barriers were negatively impacting the confidence levels of more junior staff who had limited access to helpful resources closely aligned with their skillsets.

“You really don't know what tools other teams are using, what they’re learning, or where they get their information from,” explained Mihai Muresan, Cyber Security Specialist - Threat Intelligence and Penetration Tester at E.ON.

“You can be digging in the wrong direction for a while and not even be aware of it. So getting people to know each other and talk the same language is what made us actually decide to go for this.”

Mihai had previously used various learning platforms to aid in his personal learning and development but had trouble finding a solution that would allow his team to collaborate while working through realistic scenarios they might encounter while on the job.

“I took a pentesting exam and it wasn’t a great experience for me. The hands-on elements and the communication weren’t what I had hoped for,” Mihai said. “I saw the ones [challenges] on HTB and someone from our pentesting team in Germany already had 10 licenses for HTB Academy. So, I got one of the licenses and started learning how to use HTB.”

Their solution

After experiencing how the platform works, Mihai decided in favor of the HTB solution for the CTF he wanted to host with his team.  

“We had a bunch of ideas of what to do next so we can get more people involved and experience learning,” he said. “We felt a Hack The Box CTF would be a good place to start for everyone to get to know each other and spend time together in one day with activities, presentations, and key speakers, which was really well received.”

When organizing the first CTF, Mihai aimed to include everyone who is part of the E.ON cybersecurity incident response team rather than limiting the event to just penetration testers. Unsure of what to expect, he initially anticipated anywhere from 30-60 participants. But to everyone’s surprise, 113 people registered to participate; a number which included SOC analysts, cybersecurity managers, and information security staff all with different backgrounds and areas of focus.

To ensure more junior team members would benefit from the experience, Mihai pre-selected several “Team Captains” to mentor participants who had less familiarity with CTF competitions. 

Once captains were selected, the rest of the team members were chosen at random to help foster collaboration between teams and among individuals who hadn’t previously worked together.

Reflecting on this approach, Mihai noted “When people were solving challenges, they were looking around and talking to each other. We were getting close to breaking down those barriers before, but this is what really solved it.”

Their success

After the CTF took place, Mihai began to see impacts on the way his team, and others, work together.

“For me, the networking perspective has had a huge impact. We’re collaborating better on some projects that were stalling, and the way we talk to each other is on a more personal level.” He added, “Now, it’s easier to write to somebody even though we didn’t know each other until a few months ago.”

Fortunately, Mihai isn’t the only E.ON team member seeing the benefits from hosting their first CTF competition.

“Our managers and the whole cybersecurity team supports and understands this. We’re being pushed to learn more, and they know these skills are a necessity,” he said. “It’s the way forward to get more skills on the team. And now people can better understand they need to get good at these and their job is to continue learning.”

Encouraged by the success from their first event, as well as the positive feedback received from participants and leadership, the E.ON team is already planning their next two CTF competitions.

For E.ON

• Improved collaboration among defensive and offensive teams in under one month 

• Eliminated blockers experienced when managing projects across teams

• Increased learning and development support from leadership

• Empowered junior team members to collaborate with senior staff

Let's talk

At Hack The Box, we love our global hacking community and we strive to support other communities all over the world as we continue working toward our mission to make cybersecurity training accessible to everyone—and we’d love to do the same for you. 

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Products used

HTB Capture The Flag Competitions

• Customizable, fun-fueled tabletop exercises for hands-on skill development

• Realistic challenges to improve identification and mitigation of security issues

• Team building activities to foster collaboration among participants

• Enhance problem-solving skills and ability to think creatively

HTB Academy

• Develop in-depth knowledge in various domains using comprehensive resources

• Customizable professional development with guided learning and job role paths

• Validate team member expertise with industry-recognized certifications

• Combination of theoretical concepts and practical exercises to reinforce skills

About Hack The Box

Loved by an infosec community of more than 2 million members, HTB is helping security leaders across the globe equip their teams with the skills and expertise needed to proactively secure and protect their organizations.

Whether you’re sharpening specific techniques, training up junior staff, or looking to recruit skilled cybersecurity talent, we have a solution to fit your needs. Measure, assess, and proactively close your organization’s cybersecurity skill gaps with a single platform focused on improving cyber workforce upskilling and development.