ENSTA Bretagne joins the Naval Systems Cybersecurity Chair

Together with the Chair’s founding members, the school jointly leads and supervises research programs alongside Ecole Navale, IMT Atlantique, Naval Group and Thales, and provides access to its research facilities.

Since its inception, the project has benefited from the support of the French Navy, the Region of Brittany and the Cyber Research Cluster (Pôle d’Excellence Cyber). 

A strategic scientific program for civil and military naval systems

The Naval Systems Cybersecurity Chair is embedded in the center of a sensitive and highly strategic network focused on the issues of cyberattack and criminal activity at sea.

The Chair was created in October 2014 in association with the French Navy and within the context of the national Cyber Action Plan laid out by the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. These relationships give it true legitimacy in the naval sector. The Chair’s cyber expertise is reinforced by its 2 industrial partners, Naval Group and Thales (both leaders in their field), and 15 research professors, scientific experts in cybersecurity.

This strong scientific team is dedicated to naval IT system security. Its members are mathematics and IT experts who study the methods and tools used for detecting and resisting attack and for protecting equipment and systems on board or in port, for both civil and military applications.

In the naval sector, navigation systems have become extremely sophisticated and complex, and networks and software play an integral role. These systems must be protected from attack, or must be capable of continuing to function in case of attack.

Close collaboration between partners in conjunction with the French Navy

The Chair corresponds to current requirements in terms of training cybersecurity experts and developing new tools and strategic approaches to protect increasingly complex information systems.

To obtain optimal results, the Chair’s research programs are developed in collaboration with academic and industrial partners, with specific Navy requirements in mind. The French Navy participates fully in upstream analysis and evaluations.

The principal scientific themes addressed are:

• Protection of sensitive embedded data
• Analysis of the reliability and integrity of data collected by sensors and used by ship information systems
• Analysis of security flaws and related intrusions
• Deployment of appropriate software fixes when necessary, as well as any other action necessary to reestablish system security
• Aid in decision-making in emergency situations