New cooperation agreement between Leonardo and NATO on cyber security information sharing signed

• The initiative, promoted by the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency), aims to significantly boost cooperation with the private sector on cyber threats and challenges
• Leonardo has been selected as the industry partner of NATO for its experience of providing cyber defence to protect its own intellectual property
• Key experience has been gained by Leonardo in the NATO programme Computer Incident Response - Full Operational Capability (NCIRC - FOC), which assures the security of information and ICT infrastructure from cyber-attacks in 52 NATO sites in 29 different countries

Leonardo and the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) have signed an Industrial Partnership Agreement (IPA) to share cyber security information in order to mutually enhance situational awareness and the protection of their networks and systems.

NATO and industry working with the Alliance continue to face increasing risks that information exchanged or stored on their networks and systems can be accessed, affected or infected through malicious cyber acts thereby causing damage to NATO and its Members. This partnership initiative aims at bilateral information sharing on cyber threat and security best practices, recognising the importance of working with industry partners to enable the Alliance to achieve its cyber defence policy objectives.

Leonardo will partner with NCI Agency in order to better understand threat patterns and attack trends, thereby improving the application of preventive measures and reducing the scope for future attacks and enhancing capabilities to safeguard information.

Leonardo considers the protection of corporate information assets to be an essential priority for the achievement of its corporate objectives. In this regard, Leonardo has always been committed to meeting the needs of stakeholders, customers and industry partners, through a process and information management system that fully protects confidentiality, integrity and availability of information.

With dedicated cyber defence capabilities in Italy and the UK, Leonardo is partnered with a number of government institutions and national and international commercial organisations, for services to protect them against cyber security threats thanks to public-private agreements. The Company has gained key experience through the NATO Computer Incident Response - Full Operational Capability (NCIRC - FOC) programme, which guarantees cyber security of information and ICT infrastructure across 52 NATO sites in 29 different countries. Operational since May 2014, the programme is continually being expanded and represents one of the biggest initiative in this sector ever developed.