TWO-VOICES INTERVIEW ON THE USE OF CRYPTOSMART AND CITADEL TEAM IN DASSAULT AVIATION
Jean-Mary Becquignon and Géraud Sainte-Claire Deville, cornerstones of the Secure Mobile Terminals (SMT) project, agreed to share their testimony about their experience with Cryptosmart and Citadel Team in Dassault Aviation.
Who are Jean-Mary Becquignon & Géraud Sainte-Claire Deville?
Jean-Mary is a Platform Technical Architect, responsible for the Infrastructure and Services Security Entity (SSE) within the Dassault Aviation Information System. Throughout his career, he has worked to build and improve the company IT architecture. Its mission is to define the technical developments of infrastructures and platforms resulting from the requirements issued by the Information System Security (ISS) team.
Géraud began his professional career in Dassault Aviation by completing an internship, then was hired as a project manager at Information System in the Infrastructure and Computer Studies team. Since last year, he has been linked to the innovation field where he works on topics related to digital transformation.
What are your daily problems?
Computer security is an essential component in all infrastructure projects within Dassault Aviation.
Our main problem is to provide secure infrastructures that meet the functional needs of our businesses. To develop these secure infrastructures, Dassault Aviation mainly refers to solutions certified or qualified by the ANSSI.
To illustrate this point, let’s take an example in the area of mobility in Dassault Aviation. Employees wanted to enjoy solutions, in mobility, to exchange and access our IS in a secure way. The SMT project "Secure Mobile Terminals" was therefore created within SSE.
What factors motivated you to choose Cryptosmart and Citadel Team?
We chose Cryptosmart by Ercom solution because it met the criteria expected by Dassault Aviation
• a sovereign product
• an on premise solution
• Command of central terminal security:
o encrypted terminals
o a control of external access
o a connection to our IS through a secure VPN, VoIP;
o a solution compatible with certificates built from our PKI;
• Secure voice calling (VoIP) functionality;
• a qualified Restricted Diffusion solution by ANSSI.
Cryptosmart is also the only solution on the market that is both Restricted Distribution approved by ANSSI and usable on consumer terminals.
Cryptosmart is now deployed in Dassault Aviation within a small sample (VIPs, mobile employees, etc.). We have completed this acquisition with Citadel Team, for all Dassault Aviation employees, which makes it possible to communicate via chat rooms in a simple, fast and secure way, independent from our IS.
How long have you been using Cryptosmart and Citadel Team and for what purpose?
In 2009, Dassault Aviation wanted to improve mobility access to messaging (messages, calendar and contacts) and navigation on our intranet. The SMT project was created to establish an infrastructure based on the Cryptosmart solution.
The initial project was to deploy a connection infrastructure as well as secure mobile devices under Windows Mobile OS. These terminals had to be managed in configuration and managed remotely via an MDM, supported 24/7 via a suitable hotline, and above all had to meet the company security requirements. On the mobile, Internet navigation was blocked, only access to our IS was allowed. Encrypted VoIP came in a second time with the deployment of new terminals under the Android OS, to secure telephone communications on a part of our SMT fleet.
Citadel Team deployment in Dassault Aviation occurred in 2020 and was accelerated by the pandemic. The functional requirements were to deploy a secure communication solution enabling professional exchanges in mobility, and a mean to communicate in case of IT Crisis.
The features that are particularly appreciated are:
• multi-device management; Citadel Team is accessible on both professional and personal devices of Dassault Aviation employees;
• Video conference with people outside Dassault Aviation (access via an internet browser).
What changes have you seen as a result of the implementation of Citadel Team and Cryptosmart?
The deployment of these tools facilitates internal communication by maintaining a link with the company outside of the Dassault Aviation information system.
Cryptosmart was, for its part, a complement to the secure workstation, enabling the users concerned to access their mobile messaging/calendar, and other applications of the Dassault Aviation IS.
What challenges are you facing today in your business?
Today, general public smartphones are renewed and marketed for approximately two years. Our main challenges on Cryptosmart are:
• continue to improve the solution in line with these new devices, while respecting the security implemented;
• extend the application scope accessible from the SMT.
We also hope to be able to deploy one day a SMT with a public partition open on the Internet, and a professional partition, without data leakage between the two worlds.
Regarding Citadel Team, the main challenges are:
• increase the number of active users of the in-house Dassault Aviation solution;
• improve the features already available;
• Push back current concurrent connection limitations on video conferencing.
In addition, we are currently interested in secure file exchange and are interested in the Cryptobox offering.
How do you see the market for our services in the coming years?
For Cryptosmart, we envision having an even more comprehensive Cryptosmart solution, covering the functions of MDM and terminal OS updates. The aim is to reduce the number of products to be managed simultaneously.
Who is ERCOM?
Ercom is a French company specialised in terminal and communications security, a subsidiary of Thales, a European leader in cybersecurity and a world leader in data protection. Ercom deploys its solutions in France and internationally to institutions and companies that need reliable, simple and highly secure solutions.
To learn more about Ercom, visit: https://www.ercom.com/
Who is Dassault Aviation?
With more than 10,000 military and civilian aircraft delivered to more than 90 countries over the past century (including 2,500 Falcons), Dassault Aviation has a recognized expertise and experience in designing, developing, selling and supporting all types of aircraft, from the Rafale combat aircraft to the Falcon family of high-end business jets, military drones and space systems. In 2020, Dassault Aviation generated revenues of €5.5 billion. The Group employs 12,440 people.
To learn more about Dassault Aviation, visit: https://www.dassault-aviation.com/en/
