As one of the major players in the security global sector, Italian-headquartered aerospace and defence giant Leonardo has given its contribution at the Cybertech Global conference which is taking place in Dubai.


“Cyber threats are evolving faster every day, and this is why public and private organisations, institutions, and industries need technologies enabling and strengthening their cyber resilience,” explained Andrea Teschioni, cyber security senior international business developer at Leonardo.

“A cyber-secured-by-design system and well trained and updated cyber operators are key to guaranteeing the best protection, but there is no silver bullet – continued Mr Teschioni –. This is why Leonardo set up a platform called Cyber Range, where what is known as “a digital twin” of the system is built to simulate real cyber-attacks.”

Leonardo’s Cyber Range provides a multipurpose virtual environment where an organisation can validate components and critical capabilities of complex infrastructures as well as the effectiveness of operators’ skills, procedures, and processes. “The platform can be employed in operator’s training activities, where it can test their abilities in near to real situations, or can duplicate a system for assessing and testing cyber resilience characteristics.”

Virtualization technologies allow the creation of complex scenarios which are able to supply a close representation of real infrastructures in terms of interface and behaviour, up to the possibility of interaction with real systems. The closer the represented system is to reality; the more it enhances the awareness of learners and the capability to face real situations in the field.

“Our Cyber Range platform is extremely flexible, not only in terms of theatres but also in terms of exercises supported, and it allows the creation of scenarios of different types and complexity. Simulated systems, networks, applications and related documents build a so-called gaming theatre.
In theatre, a scenario is built by defining specific instances of systems and networks, targets, applicable documents, constraints, exercise rules and teams,” concluded Mr Teschioni.

Leonardo’s track record in this field includes delivering cyber security expertise to NATO since 2012, to protect the Alliance’s ICT infrastructures, and – more recently – the Company has sold into the Middle East its cyber range & training system, which facilitates the training of cyber security operators and allows the customer to assess the resilience of digital infrastructure against potential cyber-attacks.

Leonardo’s platform for digital security is part of a wider offer in the protection of citizens and national economic activities, including critical infrastructure protection, satellite data collections, satellite services for urban and environmental monitoring and unmanned and counter-unmanned solutions.