A key task of the Cyber-Defence (CYD) Campus is to enable science, industry and government to network in the area of cyber defence. To this end, the CYD Campus regularly organises public events on cyber topics relevant to defence and security. One annual highlight is the CYD Campus Conference with more than 300 visitors.

The CYD Campus Conference 2022 took place on 26 October in the Kursaal in Bern. The key issue of the Conference was ensuring future digital infrastructures. The Conference brought together experts and interested parties from government, academia and industry and enabled an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas.

You can put the date for the next CYD Campus Conference on 26 October 2023 in Bern in your calendar now. Further information will follow. 

The call for the Cyber Start-up Challenge started for the third time in succession in June 2022. The goal of the Challenge is to explore the start-up technology landscape in a specific subject area, in order to integrate innovative technologies into the armed forces. As part of the Cyber Start-up Challenge 2022, 36 start-ups from various different countries presented their innovative technologies in the area Network detection and security of IoT devices.

The start-up ONEKEY was able to convince the jury of cyber experts from the DDPS with its automated security analysis technology. Using the «Software Bill of Materials (SBOM)» and automatically generated «Digital Twins», ONEKEY checks for possible critical security vulnerabilities and compliance violations in the operational software. 

As a result of the changing ecosystem and the increasing threat of cyber attacks in all spheres of life, the Swiss government has declared cyber security a central and national security concern.

The Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport DDPS thus adopted the first action plan for DDPS cyber defence (APCD) in 2016. In view of the rapid development of the cyber threat situation over the last five years, the new Strategy Cyber DDPS has been developed for the period 2021-2024, and is based on the action plan. Both the action plan and the new Strategy Cyber DDPS are coordinated with the overarching National Strategy for the Protection of Switzerland against Cyber Risks (NCS). As the focus of the Strategy Cyber DDPS, the Head of the DDPS, Federal Councillor Viola Amherd, defines the areas of activity and the corresponding distribution of tasks. The CYD Campus has the following three key tasks:

• Early identification of trends in the cyber area: This includes comprehensive technology and market monitoring, international scouting of startups and maintaining a cooperation network.
• Research and innovation of cyber technologies: Through the cooperation with universities and industry, emerging cyber risks are identified and innovative solutions developed to effectively counter threats in cyberspace. In addition, the CYD Campus aims to ensure and enhance the security and resilience of existing cyber systems.
• Training cyber specialists: At the CYD Campus, talents are educated at master, PhD and postdoc level, and academic interns are trained for future challenges. In addition, CYD Campus subject matter experts define and supervise numerous student projects.