The Charter of Trust takes a major step forward to advance cybersecurity

Joint press release by Siemens, AES, Airbus, Allianz, Atos, Cisco, Daimler, Dell Technologies, Deutsche Telekom, Enel, IBM, MSC, NXP, SGS, Total and TÜV Süd

Munich, February 15, 2019

• BSI German Federal Office for Information Security, CCN National Cryptologic Center and Graz University of Technology in Austria join charter as associate partners
• Companies commit to driving cybersecurity across global supply chains
• Important signals set at global, European and national political levels
• Ambitious targets set in 2019: Focusing on advancing “Cybersecurity by Default” and “Education” topics

At the Munich Security Conference in February 2018, nine organizations signed the world’s first joint charter for greater cybersecurity. A year on, the Charter of Trust has grown to 16 members. In addition to Siemens and the Munich Security Conference, the signatories include AES, Airbus, Allianz, Atos, Cisco, Daimler, Dell Technologies, Deutsche Telekom, Enel, IBM, NXP, SGS, Total and TÜV Süd. Now, the Charter of Trust welcomes two government authorities to its ranks as associate members for the very first time: the BSI German Federal Office for Information Security, which is one of the most relevant institutions for cybersecurity experts and the CCN National Cryptologic Center of Spain. CCN is an agency of the Spanish State annexed to the National Intelligence Center. In addition, the Graz University of Technology in Austria will be joining the charter as an associate member. The team there focuses on cybersecurity research and for instance was one of the teams that discovered the IT vulnerabilities “Meltdown” and “Spectre”. The associate partner is a new format, through which the Charter opens up for important government representatives, universities and think tanks for cooperation. A benefit to such organizations is that they can cooperate on specific projects without having to become full members with all rights and duties.

“In the age of the internet of things, the cybersecurity is a crucial task. Our Charter of Trust initiative is a very important first step,” said Joe Kaeser, CEO of Siemens. “We’re open to many more partners. Cybersecurity is the key enabler for successful digital businesses as well as protecting critical infrastructure. We hope that this initiative will lead to a lively public awareness and, ultimately, to binding rules and standards.”

An area of early and intense focus has been security of supply chains. Third party risks in supply chains, are becoming a more prevalent issue and are the source of 60 percent of cyberattacks, according to Accenture Strategy. Charter of Trust member companies have worked out baseline requirements and propose their implementation for making cybersecurity an absolute necessity throughout all digital supply chains. These requirements address all aspects of cybersecurity – including people, process and technology. Examples of these requirements include:

• Data shall be protected from unauthorized access throughout the data lifecycle.
• Appropriate level of identity and access control and monitoring, including third parties, shall be in place and enforced.
• A process shall be in place to ensure that products and services are authentic and identifiable.
• A minimum level of security education and training for employees shall be regularly deployed.

Charter of Trust members are establishing a risk-based methodology for implementing these requirements in their own supply chains, involving supply chain partners in the process.

In 2018 Charter of Trust round tables worldwide enabled an in-depth exchange between policy makers and the Charter partners. Governments and industry are aligning at the global, regional and national levels in the pursuit of common security goals. The “Paris Peace Call for Trust & Security in Cyberspace” presented in November 2018 by French President Emmanuel Macron is a clear commitment to form and achieve stability in cyberspace and confirms the willingness to work together to define and implement international cybersecurity principles. Content wise, the Paris Peace Call shares key tenets with the Charter of Trust principles and the partners look forward to seeing them reinforced further at the forthcoming G7 summit. Also the new EU Cybersecurity Act was an important step towards strengthening cyber institutions and providing a framework to develop cyber certifications. The Charter of Trust members look forward to bringing their expertise to bear in the development of the certifications as implementation gets underway in 2019.

The Charter of Trust has set ambitious goals for 2019. Besides deepening and expanding the policy dialog, members plan to advance two topics: “Cybersecurity by Default” and “Education” – meaning predictive cybersecurity settings embedded in products and other environments, and global continuing training efforts both inside and outside companies. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, threats to cybersecurity in 2018 caused 500 billion euros in losses worldwide. And threats to cybersecurity are constantly on the rise as the world digitalizes further: according to Gartner, 8.4 billion networked devices were in use in 2017 – 31 percent more than in 2016. The figure is expected to rise to 20.4 billion by 2020.

You can find the Charter of Trust at: www.charter-of-trust.com

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About Atos
Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with 120,000 employees in 73 countries and annual revenue of € 13 billion. European number one in Cloud, Cybersecurity and High-Performance Computing, the Group provides end-to-end Orchestrated Hybrid Cloud, Big Data, Business Applications and Digital Workplace solutions through its Digital Transformation Factory, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payment industry. With its cutting-edge technologies and industry knowledge, Atos supports the digital transformation of its clients across all business sectors. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the brands Atos, Atos Syntel, Unify and Worldline. Atos is listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index. Atos.net

Press contact
Atos: Lucie Duchateau; Phone +33 7 62 85 35 10; E-mail: lucie.duchateau@atos.net

 

About Siemens

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 170 years. The company is active around the globe, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. With its publicly listed subsidiary Siemens Healthineers AG, the company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2018, which ended on September 30, 2018, Siemens generated revenue of €83.0 billion and net income of €6.1 billion. At the end of September 2018, the company had around 379,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.

Press Contact:
Florian Martini; Phone: +49 89 636 33446; E-mail: florian.martini@siemens.com

 

AES

Amy Ackerman; Phone +1 703 682 6399; E-mail: amy.ackerman@aes.com

Airbus

Florian Taitsch; Phone: +49 89 3179 4644; E-mail: florian.taitsch@airbus.com

Ambra Canale; Phone: +49 89 31 79 99 29; E-mail: ambra.canale@airbus.com

Allianz

Daniel Aschoff; Phone: +49893800-18900; E-mail: Daniel.Aschoff@allianz.com

Cisco

Jessica Tompkinson; Phone +44 20 8824 3701; E-mail: jetompki@cisco.com

Daimler

Benjamin Oberkersch; Phone: +49 711 17-93307; E-Mail: benjamin.oberkersch@daimler.com

Dell Technologies: Media.Relations@Dell.com

IBM

Anita Kelly; Phone: + 32 498 11 21 48; E-mail: anita.kelly@be.ibm.com

MSC

Johannes Schmid; Phone: +49 89 379794920;
E-mail: j.schmid@securityconference.de

NXP

Svend Buhl; Phone: +49 40 5613 2289; E-mail: svend.buhl@nxp.com

SGS

Daniel Rüfenacht; Phone: +41 22 739 94 01; E-mail: Daniel.Rufenacht@sgs.com

Deutsche Telekom

Christian Fischer; Phone: +49 151 121 85073; E-mail: christian.fischer03@telekom.de

TÜV Süd

Sabine Krömer; Phone: +49 151 5587 3235; E-mail: Sabine.Kroemer@tuev-sued.de