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Information sharing, interoperability and cooperation as winning factors to guarantee the IT resilience of strategic infrastructures of the EU Space sector. This is the objective of the EU Space ISAC, a network composed of representatives of large companies, small and medium-sized enterprises, start-ups, public institutions and universities, established to prevent, address and mitigate security challenges in the Space sector, with a particular focus on cybersecurity.
This initiative is a result of the implementation of the European Union Space Strategy for Security and Defence, which has recognised Space as a strategic sector due to its relevance in the provision of essential services to companies, citizens and public administrations, for economic development, and security and defence.
Leonardo is among the twelve founding members of the EU Space ISAC, selected to constitute its first Board for two years, together with the Commission and EUSPA (EU Agency for the Space Programme). The founding members represent large industrial groups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Their mission is to get the organisation up and running, and plan the first activities that will be open to other EU Space ISAC members.
On April 24th the EU Space ISAC was officially launched through the first Board meeting, co-chaired by the Commission and EUSPA. Giacomo Speretta, Senior Vice President Space & EU Agencies Line of Business, participated for Leonardo.
The EU Space ISAC will ensure a coordinated approach to security in the Space sector, with a collective endeavour that will foster operational cooperation and the sharing - in a trusted environment - of information on specific cyber incidents, best practices, security protocol guidelines and for cyber risk assessment. It will also be a forum for developing tools, producing position papers and exchanging information with public partners, which will play a key advisory role in the EU Space ISAC.
Leonardo's participation in the EU Space ISAC is in line with the company's Industrial Plan, presented last March, which identifies the Space and Cyber sectors as strategic pillars for the crucial role they play in guaranteeing global security, understood not only in terms of defence, but also as the protection of critical infrastructures - such as water and energy networks, satellites and communications, production plants and information systems - ensuring the continuity of essential services provided to citizens, businesses and institutions.
Space - in its physical and digital dimension - is a strategic asset to be defended as a priority, with an approach that goes beyond the borders of individual States by operating through coordinated collaboration at a European level.
In this perspective, Leonardo brings together on the one hand, its specific expertise in the cyber domain, strengthened by a data-centric approach based on the widespread and pervasive use of artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the experience of over sixty years in the management of the entire value chain of the Space industry: from the manufacture of satellites and orbiting infrastructures to the production of high-tech equipment and sensors, from the management of satellite services to propulsion and launch systems.