Under a new cooperation agreement, Thales and Schneider Electric will jointly propose cybersecurity solutions to essential operators and industry and defense customers to protect their automation and command-and-control systems from attacks.

Les Assises de la Sécurité, Monaco, Wednesday 2 October 2013 - Thales and Schneider Electric have signed a commercial cooperation agreement for the development of cybersecurity solutions and services to protect command-and-control systems from cyberattack.

As a result of this cooperation, essential operators, industry and defense customers will benefit from state-of-the-art solutions to protect them from new and emerging threats such as computer attacks launched from their management systems, unauthorized access across wireless networks and malware introduced via USB memory sticks. These solutions will also assure compliance with new national and international regulations in the area of security for digital command-and-control systems.

Solutions will include risk management, vulnerability analysis, definition of security architectures, implementation of protection and surveillance measures, security maintenance and incident response management, and will be tailored to the automation and command-and-control systems in service with Schneider Electric and Thales's customers and their specific environments.

“Digital security of critical infrastructures is a top priority for the authorities in France and other countries. Through our cooperation with Schneider Electric, we will offer a range of world-class technical solutions to meet this requirement,” said Vincent Marfaing, Thales Vice President Information Technology Security/Cybersecurity.

“The cooperation with Thales enables us to further extend the range of solutions we offer to our customers in sensitive sectors to address their growing concerns over . It is an alliance between two market leaders designed to step up to one of the major challenges of our times,” Sylvain Frodé de la Forêt, Vice President of Partner Projects & Buildings, Schneider Electric France, added.

Schneider Electric and Thales will initially work together to offer these joint solutions to French companies.

As Europe's foremost supplier of secure communications and information systems, Thales brings to the table its expertise in security audits and security consulting, development and integration of cybersecurity solutions and security services.

Schneider Electric, a leading specialist in automation solutions for energy networks, industrial processes and machines, building management and data centre infrastructure management, is contributing its expertise in automation system design as well as its locally based service delivery organization throughout France.