Indra presents ECYSAP, the Cyber Situational Awareness System that positions Europe among the world’s leading cyber defence powers

Indra has presented ECYSAP (European Cyber Situational Awareness Platform), a system set to deliver strategic military capabilities to Europe while attracting the interest of the Atlantic Alliance, to authorities from the Joint Cyberspace Command, the European Union Military Staff, the European Defence Agency and NATO’s Allied Command Transformation.

ECYSAP merges the information on the situation in the real world and activity in cyberspace to assess their impact on the mission. Its development has been addressed within the EU project under the same name that includes Spain, Italy, France and Estonia as its partners, with the continent's most advanced companies, universities and research centers having worked on it under Indra’s coordination.

The solution will provide Europe with a trailblazing capacity to plan and conduct military missions in cyberspace that can bring huge military benefits.

In the domestic field, ECYSAP will be a key part of the Combat System for Military Operations in Cyberspace (SCOMCE).

The platform is also ready to enable European armies and the EU to tailor it to their needs and put it into operation, constituting a significant step forward in the implementation of European cyberspace combat systems. Moreover, within the European framework, ECYSAP is aligned with the future EC2 (EU Strategic Command and Control System), which Indra is also heading the development of.

Similarly, NATO, through its Allied Command Transformation, is analyzing the feasibility of using ECYSAP as the starting point for the development of a similar capability of its own.

In turn, the development of this system represents a success for the European Commission, which is fostering joint R&D projects to foster smart and efficient investment in defence.

Cyber attacks that leap into the physical world

A simulated peace mission was reproduced during the demonstration carried out by Indra, which Spain contributed to by sending a contingent to disembark in the port of a fictitious Mediterranean country in the midst of a period of instability.

During the exercise, ECYSAP demonstrated how it could be integrated into the EC2 European command and control system, which sent out the mission planning and the order for the operation. The system then merged all of the information on the situation in cyberspace in real time, assessing the threats, vulnerabilities and cyber events and their impact on the mission while calculating the likelihood of success.

The platform initially detected different disinformation campaigns and cyber attacks on institutional websites. These were followed by cyber attacks on the port’s connected systems (IoT), such as the video surveillance system, the crane system and the power plant. On a physical level, drones loaded with explosives attacked the Spanish ship’s communications tower and supplanted the GPS signal to confuse the Spanish units’ electronic equipment. ECYSAP assessed the impact of these attacks in real time, providing key information to aid the decision-making.

Luis García de la Iglesia, Indra’s director of cyber defence, explained that “ECYSAP is a mission-focused tool that can visualize how cyber attacks can spread to the physical world. The system incorporates highly advanced algorithms to automate multiple actions, opening up the door to the integration of artificial intelligence agents”.

The cyber maneuver field of the future

As part of the exercise, Indra deployed its Hybrid Twin Lab capability, a simulator of operations in cyberspace that facilitated the simulation of the mission and the different events that occurred.

The integration of ECYSAP into this wargaming and simulation system is key to the national strategy to secure a Classified Cyber Range, a capability that the world’s most advanced armies are also seeking, leading to an upturn in interest in ECYSAP.

Indra is the company that stands at the helm of the major current-day cyberdefence R&D projects in Europe. In addition to ECYSAP, the company is leading its continuation (ECYSAP EYE) and EU GUARDIAN and participating in other projects such as Newsroom and AIDA, acting as a driving force in the sector in our country and strengthening its sovereignty and autonomy.