About the project
According to the European Economic and Social Committee, European companies, especially SMEs, face risk cyberattacks; SMEs & MEs are the most critical yet most vulnerable of the Internet ecosystems. This is mainly because they have insufficient knowledge and resources to protect their sensitive data and business against advanced malicious internet threats, even though cyber-attacks might produce disastrous consequences in their business activities.
Therefore, it is essential to make the European critical economic infrastructure of SMEs & MEs less vulnerable to cyber-attacks through the provision of innovative cybersecurity solutions across each of the European Member States ensuring synergies and reinforcing cooperation between the cybersecurity stakeholders.
These solutions must go beyond the traditional services of Internet and Telecom Providers towards the protection of a broader and more sophisticated range of cyber assaults. The worlds of SMEs & MEs and cybersecurity have always been very separated. SMEs usually focus just in their business and cybersecurity is often considered "a very complex art". As SMEs see themselves as small entities, they normally do not consider including cybersecurity in their day-to-day operations, at least apart from having antivirus solutions installed in their computers.
In this sense, the HENSOLDT Fortify objective is to improve the resilience of its cybersecurity infrastructure creating an important EU node with which strengthening the capacity of cybersecurity and being able to monitor cyber-attacks and threats, supply chain risks and engaging with the gears to react against large incidents.
Strategy and method
In August 2022, HENSOLDT Nexeya France suffered a massive cyber-attack. The vast majority of these threats are targeted to mid-cap companies like HENSOLDT that are subcontractors and service providers of large companies and public sector authorities in critical sectors, blocking the activity of 700 employers for 3 months with millions of euros of loss. After this experience, the entire HENSOLDT Group has decided to implement the #oneIMnow project, part of the HENSOLDT Fortify project.
The scope of #oneIMnow is building one global IT environment for seamless collaboration (while respecting local governmental regulations), where every customer/user will experience the same level of service quality, HENSOLDT’s hyper-integrated IT environment leads to hyper-automation and operational efficiency, and providing a super secure IT environment with maximum usability.
This new Information technology strategy covers 8 areas:
- #oneAPPSnow: Global application harmonization wherever possible and allowed;
- #oneINFRAnow: Maximum centralization of workloads into the HENSOLDT Enterprise Cloud with local (governmental) satellites;
- #oneSERVICEnow: Efficient and robust processes in a fully integrated service platform deliver a differentiating service experience across the globe;
- #oneDigitalSECURITYnow: HENSOLDT to become industry benchmark in cyber security and resilience while assuring highest usability standards;
- #oneDigitalCUSTOMERnow: Customer centricity becomes more than a claim, but a value driver for HENSOLDT and all Hensoldtians;
- #oneDigitalESGnow: IM is a core contributor to our ESG initiatives and takes a leading role as ESG ambassador;
- #oneDigitalMINDnow: IM is the place-to-be within HENSOLDT and spearhead of adapting new methods and collaboration models;
- #oneDigitalDATAnow: HENSOLDT as a digital innovation leader makes utmost use out of data and digital technologies;
Once #oneIMnow has been completed within HENSOLDT Group, the #HENSOLDT Fortify project has been thought to follow up the internal #oneIMnow methodology and bring the project scope to a wider EU approach by empowering the cybersecurity infrastructure and system with training, rising knowledge, gaming, involving other companies’ sector in the process and further interacting with the CSIRTs, the CyCLONe network and the future Joint Cybersecurity Unit in the process.
As such, the HENSOLDT Fortify project wants to create a Cybersecurity laboratory (cyber ranges) for implementing the validation of the innovative cybersecurity infrastructure simulating with other industries and raising awareness, skills and knowledge among the collaborating companies in case of an attack. All of this while implementing training courses and workshops and align it with the implementation of the Blueprint and the future Joint Cyber Unit considering the important role of the Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs) network and of the Cyber Crisis Liaison Organization Network (CyCLONe).
The solution offered by the HENSOLDT Fortify project is an improvement of the current technology up to the state of the art. This programme will be used as a Pilot case for modernizing all the cybersecurity infrastructure of the HENSOLDT Group within the “oneIMnow” strategy. The solution is indeed an improvement and an example of hampering the digital transition but also, thanks to the Cyber range, others sectors could experiment out of it fostering their digital transformation and cyber security level.