Indra equips the European Commission's cyber threat management centre with communications resistant to quantum computer attacks
The first pan-European virtual centre for the dynamic management of cyber-risks is being set up by an industrial team led by Leonardo, of which Indra is a member.
It will monitor, in real time, the degree of threat to which digital infrastructures are exposed across the continent, tracking the activity of criminal groups on the internet, dark web and social networks, relying on different databases to extract intelligence. The contract, announced in October 2023, was awarded by the European Commission and Indra is contributing to its implementation by providing key technologies.
The company will equip the centre with advanced hybrid protection mechanisms to face the post-quantum scenario, in which the emergence of quantum computing will change the rules of cryptography, forcing the incorporation of new, even more secure algorithms to protect communications.
The centre will have the COMSec solution, a sophisticated system that provides end-to-end encryption services for voice, instant messaging and video over mobile phones and PCs, using any cellular, wireless or satellite network worldwide, which has been entirely developed by Indra and will allow the centre's staff and managers to hold videoconferences and multiple telephone conversations and exchange sensitive information with external entities.
Indra will also protect conversations and the exchange of information within the centre itself and will encrypt the data stored in it, preparing it to withstand "harvest now, decrypt later" threats, i.e. store now and decrypt when the technology allows it. The post-quantum protocol used complies with European NIS (Security of Network and Information Systems) standards and has been supervised by the Spanish National Cryptologic Centre.
Indra has also worked on the definition of the procedure that the centre's platforms and systems follow to exchange data with the outside world. In a next phase, it will study the way in which it will coordinate with the network of Cybersecurity Operations Centres in Spain. All this will contribute to strengthening the protection of a strategic infrastructure and will favour the development of the information and knowledge society in Europe.
Luis J. García de la Iglesia, Deputy Director of Indra's Cyber Defence Unit, highlights that "we are proud that the European Union has chosen Leonardo and Indra as partners to implement such an important centre for the security of the continent, which will be a world reference in cybersecurity and intelligence".
The implementation of the Cyber Threat Management Centre comes at a particularly delicate moment, in which risks are increasing due to the geopolitical situation and conflicts that have arisen. This generates disinformation campaigns and cyber-attacks on companies and critical infrastructures, in addition to rasomware, phishing and denial of service campaigns by criminal organisations.