THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
CONFERENCE REPORT
BIG DATA – Security Challenges/Demand for Spectrum AFCEA – TechNet Europe 2013, Warsaw 27 to 28 May 2013 TechNet Europe 2013, opened by the General Manager of AFCEA Europe, Major General (ret.) Klaus Peter Treche, focused on the challenges that powerful communications and information applications have to cope with today and in the future: Security Challenges in an era of cyber threats and increasing demand for spectrum resulting from advanced communications and IT applications. He explained to the some 250 participants from both sides of the Atlantic that the challenge of the conference on highly topical big data issues, addressing opinion-leaders and decision-makers in government and industry as well as representatives of academia, was to find “practical answers” to the many open issues related to the conference theme. “The theme of this year’s TechNet Europe 2013 was chosen at a very good moment, since interest in this issue is growing (...)
Opening On behalf of the Polish Ministry of Defence, Vice Admiral Waldemar Glusko, Vice Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, said he was happy to host TechNet Europe 2013 in Poland’s capital Warsaw. The conference theme was highly topical, because the Polish Armed Forces were facing the same problems as
“Big data are highly varied high-volume, high-speed information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision-making.” Gartner Inc we are all engaged in the race against time. Cyber attacks are on the increase and we cannot exclude acts against critical infrastructure”, commented Polish Member of the European Parliament Krzystof Lisek in his welcome address. Technical presentations by industry and specialist debates alternated with highlevel panel discussions and so-called “eye-openers” describing big data scenarios in a dense programme that set the political and industrial scene and captivated the audience during this two-day conference.
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all the partner nations and were looking for partners in order to solve the evolving issues, taking into account the fact that military operations today and in the future would always be accomplished in coalitions and would therefore require “common solutions”. Mr Rini Goos, Deputy CE of the European Defence Agency (EDA), responding to
Conference Reports
General Treche’s and Admiral Glusko’s comments on the need for reliable communications both for ongoing military engagements and in the run-up to future missions, said: “A Common Operations Picture and Situation Awareness are the main drivers of the trend of ‘whatever, wherever, whenever’, but data centres are a challenge. Data storage is a huge weapon, creating possibilities for cross-checking information, but also creating dependency and vulnerability”. He underscored the high price to be paid for ubiquitous connectivity. Thus cyber security has become a top priority for the nations and EDA. Setting the scene To set the scene, Petr Jirásek, Cyber Security Adviser and Chairman of the AFCEA Cyber Security Group, led a Panel composed of Eurocorps Commander Lt. Gen. de Bavinchove, NATO’s Director General International Military Staff Lt.Gen. Bornemann and John Palfreyman from IBM UK. Mr Palfreyman discussed the global technology needed for defence transformation, while General de Bavinchove drew on his 12 months’ experience as ISAF Commander to advise industry on communication and cyber protection issues. General Bornemann explained how NATO intended to tackle the problems posed by the financial crisis. Big data in the field of security, business and defence During three panels moderated by former RAF Air Commodore Bruce Wynn, Mr Christop De Preter from LUCIAD, Belgium, and German Navy Captain Jörg Hillmann, industry representatives discussed big data prospects in the area of security, business and defence. Firstly focusing on Homeland and Border Security issues, secondly on questions resulting from multinational military operations and
