BAE Systems launches cloud-based cyber security offering in Canada

BAE Systems is bringing cloud-based cyber security to commercial organizations in Canada for the first time with the introduction of a suite of security products, initially focusing on email protection, designed to defend against targeted attacks.

The new offerings come largely as a result of BAE Systems’ acquisition of SilverSky, notes a statement Monday from BAE Systems, which provides technology-led defence, aerospace and security solutions.

The expansion into the cloud of the company’s security offering in Canada is meant to answer “customer demand for a wide and flexible portfolio of solutions – from on-premise services to cloud-based services and managed security services – to combat the ever-increasing cyber threat,” BAE Systems reports.

“Cyber intelligence is arguably the best defence companies can employ against the current wave of attacks on their critical assets,” Tim Harvey, president of commercial solutions for BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, says of the military-grade, cloud-based protection. “Not only can cloud-based services be delivered within short timescales – dealing with threats almost immediately – companies will also have the ability to scale their security up or down, as required, making them more agile in their response,” Harvey notes in the statement.

Given that most cyber attacks start with an email message, the company reports that the first set of cloud-based products to be introduced will comprise its Email Protection Services (EPS). The offerings include the following:

• zero day prevention;

• insider threat prevention;

• email data loss prevention;

• email encryption;

• email anti-virus and anti-spam;

• email archiving; and

• email business continuity.

BAE Systems reports 70% to 90% malware is unique to any single organization, meaning that “the most difficult attacks to defend against are Zero Day attacks – attacks that are unknown or have not previously been seen and that, as a consequence, require advanced defence.”

The company’s Zero Day Prevention technology is based on pioneering techniques that “analyze the email in the cloud for malicious content and intent, before it reaches the recipient,” the statement notes.

Beyond that risk is the threat of employees who accidentally or purposefully leak data, something that BAE Systems contends “most companies are woefully unprepared for.”

The company notes that having the new services offered entirely from the cloud greatly reduces integration time and complexity, while eliminating the need for on-premises software and hardware.

BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, a business division of BAE Systems, operates in four key domains of expertise: cyber security, financial crime, communications intelligence and digital transformation.

With a strong presence in Canada, BAE Systems reports that the company offers some of the world’s most advanced, technology-led solutions to more than “250 government and business organizations to help protect national security and keep critical information and infrastructure secure,” the statement adds.