Renewal of the Cyber CNI Chair: Partners Signed at FIC 2019

After three years of operation, the Cybersecurity of Critical Infrastructure Chair (Cyber CNI) is being renewed for three more years thanks to the commitment of its academic and industrial partners. The IMT Chair led by IMT Atlantique benefits from partnerships with Télécom ParisTech and Télécom SudParis schools and support from the Brittany region —a region at the forefront of cutting-edge technology— within the framework of the Cyber Center of Excellence.

In the context of a sponsor partnership led by Fondation Mines-Télécom, five industrial partners have committed to this new period: AIRBUS, AMOSSYS, BNP Paribas, EDF and Nokia Bell Labs. The official signing to renew the Chair took place at FIC (Forum International de la Cybersécurité) in Lille on 22 January 2019.

The Cyber CNI Chair was founded in January 2016. Since then, it has led research and contributed to training in its area of expertise: the cybersecurity of critical infrastructures (energy networks, digital infrastructures, industrial processes, water production factories, financial systems, etc.). This recent scientific discipline is rapidly becoming an unavoidable topic for many companies and organizations. The Chair’s first phase made significant headway in improving the security and resilience of infrastructures, particularly in detecting malicious behavior using automatic learning techniques, 3D visualization of security events and the diagnosis of accidental or malicious causes of security incidents.

While the main theme remains the cybersecurity of critical infrastructures, in its second phase, the Cyber CNI Chair will expand its field of expertise and research: reinforcing efforts aimed at applying artificial intelligence (AI) in the area of cybersecurity, sharing and pooling information on threats (Threat Intelligence), industrial applications of connected objects (Industrial IoT) and the blockchain are all included in the Chair’s new research topics.

New theses will contribute to these objectives, in addition to those already underway. At the same time, phase 2 of the Cyber CNI Chair will increase communication efforts and promotion events to highlight the work achieved.

“The Cyber CNI Chair, led by IMT Atlantique, is historically one of the first to have addressed cybersecurity with such a high level of skills and innovation in the complex area of critical infrastructures. The remarkable work carried out in recent years will continue in the second phase of the process through the renewed commitment of all the academic and industrial partners, sponsors, students and PhD students on new vital topics. The Chair’s renewal is therefore critically important and is justified by new lines of research, growing challenges and the major expectations of contributors, whose needs are increasingly acute,” says Serge Maurice, Airbus & Chairman of the Cyber CNI Chair Steering Committee.