Selex ES; Partnering to Fight Modern Cyber Threats
Over the past few years, cyber threats and attacks around the world have become more effective and increasingly widespread, with state organisations and international corporations falling victim. At a more subtly damaging level, in addition to those high profile cyber-attacks which end up being reported in the media there are potentially thousands of other cybercrime incidents which go unreported or, more worryingly, unnoticed across businesses and organisations of all sizes.
But cyber security isn’t just about fighting threats – there are opportunities too. GCHQ’s Jonathan Hoyle asserted that “as a nation seeking economic advantage, we will also achieve a significant boost to our prosperity if we can position the UK as a nation of choice for consulting business in cyberspace and a cyber-centre of excellence for skills, technology and knowledge”, sending a clear message about the UK’s objective to be the world leader on cyber security. It’s an aspiration that Selex ES, a Finmeccanica company and one of the world’s leading information assurance and cyber security specialists, fully supports. Selex ES has the objective to not only ensure the cyberspace is a global example of information assurance best practice, but from this security base, drive prosperity and improve the lives of individuals and communities.
Scoping the threat
The threat we are up against uniquely makes no distinction between the military and the civil environments. All information and communication systems, no matter where or what they are designed for, are a natural conduit for aggression. Our adversaries can be well camouflaged and range from the young hacker who wants to make a name for himself in the dark market, to teams of well organised (often state sponsored) teams endowed with funding and a sophisticated operating mode. However, all have a common goal to target the heart of our economic system; whether to probe and inventory the vulnerabilities of our critical infrastructure, or to deplete the intellectual property and knowledge base of our societies.
At Selex ES, our Security Operations Centres (SOCs) study the effects and methods of cyber-attacks. Importantly, we also draw on what our partners, governments and their agencies are prepared to make available about the behaviour of these adversaries. Intelligence is key to this threat environment, and technology – whilst a critical enabler – cannot substitute for the experience that human analysis can bring to developing this picture.
As a provider of security solutions to government and corporate organisations, at Selex ES we understand risk and programme management, complex problem solving, and technology. Drawing on expertise and experience from across military and civil sectors, we know what it means to apply these skills and techniques to security projects, and we know that the majority of situations require seamless integration with legacy systems. We recognise that cyber security requires specialist expertise and we are well practiced at developing flexible, cost-effective solutions, without excessive disruption, which knit-together existing systems and infrastructure, with specialist products and capabilities, to deliver effective cyber defence.
NCIRC – impossible without partnership
In September 2011, Selex ES started its largest cyber programme to date with the NATO Computer Incident Response Capability Full Operating Capability (NCIRC FOC), leading a team – alongside Northrop Grumman – which represents some 40 international suppliers, all selected for their collective strength in cyber defence. In partnership with NATO, the team are implementing and maintaining state of the art detection systems in 28 nations to protect its fixed and deployed systems and operations from the most sophisticated attacks known, with a user base of more than 22, 000 individuals. With NATO encountering significant attacks on its digital networks or individual computers every day, the threat from cyber-attacks is greater than it has ever been and requires an entire eco-system delivery capability, which is, as NATO’s Ian West commented, “impossible to achieve without an effective partnership with industry”.
Today, Selex ES continues to build on its expertise in this field by drawing on synergies with other sectors and offering similar services to commercial customers, where Selex ES is actively pursuing advanced programmes for development of the latest generation cyber intelligence and SCADA security services, seeking to reach 360° protection for the complex ecosystems of its customer base.
In recognition of Selex ES’s experience in defending against the serious threat that cyber-attacks pose to the security and economic well-being of the UK, the company is working alongside other leading defence and security companies in partnership with UK Government as part of the Defence Cyber Protection Partnership (DCPP), aimed at bolstering the security of the UK against cyber-attack through action within the defence industry. The DCPP model is intended to lead the way in industry collaboration and action on cyber security and to act as a useful template which can then be followed by commercial sectors to improve resilience across industry. The DCPP will also share threat intelligence and wider expertise on tackling cyber threats from the defence sector with other industry sectors and government through the recently announced national Cyber Security Information Sharing Partnership.
