NATO refreshes cyber technology, competition to replace equipment under way

NATO Cyber Security Centre updates technology at its Security Operations Centre. (Shutterstock)

The NATO Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has completed a project in collaboration with industry partners Cisco, RSA, and EuroOne to replace equipment at its Security Operations Centre in Mons, Belgium.

The project, completed in December 2021, involved the upgrade of two central management systems that work together to help the NCSC monitor NATO networks for threats and flag key issues, the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA), which runs the NCSC, stated in an announcement on 9 February.

The head of the Cyber Security Programme Delivery branch of the NCIA, Fred Jordan, confirmed to Janes that the work completed was the Urgent Obsolescence Management project.

The NCIA released a request for quotation (RFQ) in October 2019 for the Urgent Obsolescence Management project – the first phase of the Capability Package 120 (CP120) Programme. The project required the deployment and upgrade of the Network Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems (NIPS) and Full Packet Capture (FPC).

According to the NCIA's announcement, “[NIPS] uses pattern recognition to alert the agency to unusual traffic on NATO's networks, whilst [FPC] continuously records all network activity and is a primary source of information in support of incident response activities”.

The CP120 Programme intends to replenish NATO's communications and information security systems in a phased manner, the NCIA stated in a separate announcement. Each phase will encompass several capability advancements.