Thales, a global technology leader in the Aerospace, Transportation, Space and Defence & Security markets, announced the launch of a new Cyber and Consulting organisation which will provide customers with consulting services in digital transformation and cybersecurity. Philip Ingram from SecurityNewsDesk and SecurityMiddleEast.com visited the Williams F1 Advanced Engineering Conference Centre near Oxford in England for the launch of their new service.

It is not widely known that Thales technology touches many of us across the globe on a daily basis. They secure transactions from 19 of the worlds 20 largest banks, power the Air Traffic Management systems in 170 countries, provide the train protection and warning systems and signaling systems for many railways, power the in-flight entertainment systems for 50 million air passengers per year and is key to controlling many Critical National Infrastructure projects in several countries.

Many of these projects are in the Middle East and over recent years Thales has been working with the likes of Etihad, the Dubai Metro, Abu Dhabi and Dubai International Airports to name but a few. The Williams F1 venue wasn’t by accident as Thales are working very closely with them to secure Williams F1 systems.

Thales Cyber and Consulting is a key part of the existing Thales critical information systems and cybersecurity business line. It provides cybersecurity, digital transformation and engineering consultancy for companies and organizations in complex and highly regulated environments, who are seeking to exploit the benefits of the most recent breakthroughs in digital technology, whilst mitigating the cyber-risk of doing so.

Gary Miller UK, Managing Director, Cyber Security and Consulting UK said: “Digital technology is transforming the way we live our lives, do business and share information. This new online environment brings with it unprecedented opportunity alongside increased risk for both public and private sector organizations.”

“Our Cybersecurity and Consulting Services organization addresses these challenges head on, providing customers with answers to multi-disciplinary, cross sector challenges posed by the connected world.”

Their new consultancy is aimed at developing from their global experience across multiple sectors where engineering complexity is high and risk appetite is low, it has five pillars.

One is “Cyber Consultancy”, focusing on ensuring resilience is designed in form the outset of a project. The next is under the banner “Transformation and Change” and relates to digital transformation, helping people think in a digital world and if necessary change processes and procedures to optimize it. Then we see business change initiatives using evidence based change processes being wrapped up under the title “Strategy and Architecture.”

The final two pillars are “Intelligence as a Service” which will help by providing business intelligence services, training and studies such as overviews of government procurement programmes and trails or major political events such as G20 meetings. Then a straight “cyber consultancy” combining risk management, advice on controls and looking at the human factors influences in the cyber world.

Victor Chavez, CEO of Thales UK concluded by saying, “We have spent 80 years working in safety critical environments and have strong knowledge of a large number of industry verticals. The fact that we secure 80% of all banking transactions, many mass transport and Critical National Infrastructure projects is testament to the trust in our capability. It is this experience we want to pass on so we can help in the cyber revolution caused by the Internet of Things.”