Leonardo has signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to design, develop, build, validate and operate, under the technical responsibility of the ESA Security Office, the new Cyber-Security Operations Center (C-SOC) of the Agency . This is a key infrastructure for Europe, which will be operational from 2024 with the aim of protecting European space assets and the related ground segment (control and operations management centers) from cyber threats, as well as Earth-Earth and Earth-Space connections as well as those between infrastructures in orbit.
Leonardo, as Prime Contractor, will be the leader of an industrial consortium made up of 19 companies from Italy, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Estonia, Romania, relying on the experience gained by protecting over 5.000 networks and 70.000 users from the cyber threat. in 130 countries and leading large international projects such as the NATO Computer Incident Response Full Operational Capability (NCIRC FOC) program, which guarantees the security of information and communications at approximately 75 NATO sites located in 29 countries around the world.
"Ensuring the cyber resilience of space resources is fundamental for Europe's economy and security in a scenario characterized by a constantly increasing hybrid threat and the growing importance of satellite data in accessing essential services for everyone's life. citizens and for the activities of companies, states and global decision makers - declared Tommaso Profeta, Managing Director of Leonardo's Cyber Security Division -. As an Italian company dedicated to the protection of technologies for the security of strategic assets, we are proud to be able to put our skills at the service of ESA for the protection of space activities and systems in terms of confidentiality, integrity and availability ".
Thanks to a distributed architecture, the new Cyber-Security Operations Center will be able to provide resilient and redundant cyber security coverage, monitoring and managing the vulnerabilities of space systems 24 hours a day and 365 days a year and enhancing the security of Member States. and ESA partner.
