A cyber operations centre (Photo by Staff Sgt. Jacob Osborne)

A European-wide platform is being developed for the real-time acquisition of cyber situational awareness in military operations.

The platform will feature analytical tools for visualising and detecting cyber threats, responding to them and providing support for decision-making during missions. The project will enhance Europe’s defence capabilities to protect cyberspace, NATO’s fifth line of defence

Global technology and consulting company Indra is at the helm of the ECYSAP (European Platform for Cyber Situational Awareness) project, whose consortium is made up of partners from four countries (Spain, France, Italy and Estonia). The consortium comprises organizations in the European cyber defence market from industry, the academic world and SMEs representing the sector.

ECYSAP is funded by the European Defence Industrial Development Program (EDIDP) and supported by the European Commission and the European Defence Agency (EDA) through the Ministries of Defence of the participating states.

The consortium led by Indra will design and implement analytical tools for the identification and assessment of risks associated with the technological sphere and estimate their propagation and their potential impact on the objectives of a mission.

The platform incorporates threat response capabilities based on the accurate identification, selection, planning and deployment of technological and mission-based actions, projecting their behavioro over different time horizons.

Given its orientation towards supporting decision-making, ECYSAP incorporates advanced methods for the sharing of cyber threat information among multiple stakeholders. The platform will be backed by resilient communications that reinforce its self-protection capabilities and the implementation of diverse auditable controls.

The validation activities will be carried out by means of use cases endorsed by the member states and conducted in real operating environments in which the cyber situational awareness capabilities are proven by the fulfilment of the missions.