The challenge
Ten years ago, cyberthreats and cyber warfare were not on the defense sectors’ radar. This means that legacy hardware and software across fleets of vehicles for air, land and sea need updating and securing for a new digital world. But just as heavy armour can be counterproductive on the battlefield, digital security defenses can hinder systems operations: a balancing act is needed.
While this upgrade is ongoing, threats are on the increase and constantly evolving with a need for manufacture and design of systems to be future-proofed and adaptable to an ever-changing threat environment, requiring constant risk assessment and maintenance. An additional hardware challenge is that major constraints in terms of weight, size criteria and power consumption have to be taken into account.
The risk
As defense moves into a new era, collaborative combat is vital in managing security situations. The ability to securely pass information from different locations in air, on sea and on land will become a necessity. Unless the integrity of information can be guaranteed, there is significant tactical risk to operations.
Any interception, tampering or lack of availability of tactical information could be devasting to a mission and would have a direct impact on its success or failure.
Atos approach
Atos has developed a new generation of combat aircraft’s multi-level gateway system, enabling secure two-way transfer between networks with different levels of security and confidentiality, thus preserving data integrity and security of all onboard connectivity. It allows critical “authorized” intelligence to be safely shared and used at all times, protected against outside intrusion.
Atos has security embedded and by-design with dedicated cybersecurity experts forming part of every project team ensuring the required standards are met and that the design is future-proofed for necessary security updates as threats and technology evolves. Each component of both the hardware and software is vetted for security and we rigorously laboratory test each part.
The system itself is tamper-proof and only a small and highly trained team within our organization can work on these solutions that are designed and delivered in-house only and meet strict French security criteria.
Share this Page
