Thales opens a new cybersecurity training centre in Belgium

Thales is inaugurating a new Cyberlab today in Tubize, in the south of the Brussels region, in the presence of Jean-Claude Marcourt, Vice President of the Walloon Government, Minister of Economy, Industry, Innovation and New Technologies. Unique in Belgium, this centre now allows the networks and information systems of businesses and public bodies to be realistically replicated in order to prepare them for cyberattacks.

Its use is also intended to educate students and enhance the training of cybersecurity specialists. In 2017, Thales plans to recruit approximately 400 employees worldwide in the cybersecurity field. In Belgium, 50 recruitments are planned in the next four years to support the rapid development of the activity.

In the heart of the ecosystem of institutions located in Belgium, the Tubize Cyberlab is part of the total offer of information system security of Thales, a European leader in cybersecurity and global leader in data protection. It meets the growing need of businesses, operators of essential services and public institutions faced with the rise in cyberthreats.

As the recent worldwide cyberattack WannaCry, which affected in particular the operational function of essential services like hospitals or rail transport, illustrates, administrations and businesses must prepare and train themselves to ensure the security of their information systems and protect their data. With this new Cyberlab, Thales can reproduce the information networks of an organisation, thanks to a dedicated platform, to test its resistance to the latest forms of cyberattacks.

The platform offers three applications:

• validation of the level of security of the information system architectures and data of our clients;
• training of cybersecurity specialists in an environment representative of real systems;
• support for Belgian businesses in developing products incorporating cybersecurity in their design (“secure by design”) and submitting them to the most demanding tests of cybersecurity.

 
Furthermore, this platform will contribute to the research and development activities of Thales in cybersecurity in Belgium.
It is estimated moreover that there will be a shortage of approximately 2000 cybersecurity experts in Belgium by 2020. This is why Thales has also decided to boost its support for the “Master in Cybersecurity[1]” by opening its Tubize Cyberlab to it. This programme, the first of its kind created in Belgium, will be able to make use of the platform to put students in realistic attack conditions and so enhance their ability to handle them.

To develop this Cyberlab, Thales called on the Diateam company, a supplier of resources of this type for over fifteen years.

Jean-Claude MARCOURT, Vice President of the Government, Minister of Economy, New Technologies and Higher Education, stresses the crucial importance of having an integrated policy in cybersecurity: "Today we must provide the means to guarantee the security of sensitive data as well as that of property and people.

After having launched a unique master in cybersecurity in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, we are pleased to see the European leader in cybersecurity and the global leader in data protection expanding in Wallonia. In addition to a role in training specialists and supporting businesses, the platform inaugurated today will contribute to research and development activities in cybersecurity, factors that can contribute to developing our digital ecosystem." 

Recruitment and training in cybersecurity

In 2017, Thales plans to recruit approximately 400 employees worldwide in the field of cybersecurity.
The fast-growing market (+10% annually on average) provides an ongoing need for new specialists. Thales is endeavouring to bring academia and industry together to train the professionals of tomorrow.