Digital technologies offer strong potential for Switzerland, but it is crucial to understand which opportunities and risks, as well as which dependencies, arise when using them. One of the goals of the DDPS’ cyber strategy is to be as technically autonomous as possible. To this end, competence in the area of cyber trend monitoring was reinforced in 2023 as part of the NCS National Cyber Strategy at the Cyber-Defence Campus. An entire team is now devoted exclusively to monitoring the digital technologies relevant for Switzerland, focusing on the cyber area.

To achieve an appropriate degree of technical autonomy is one of the six goals of the DDPS’ cyber strategy (2021-2024). «For Switzerland, it is very important to understand how dependent we are on digital technologies, how this dependence is developing and which risks are involved. Because digital technologies are developing dynamically, it is important to recognise new developments early on and to understand their impact on security». This text is from the new NCS National Cyber Strategy, which was approved by the Federal Council in April of 2023. The Cyber-Defence Campus of armasuisse Science and Technology (S+T) carries out national technology monitoring with regard to cyber security in close cooperation with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), higher education institutions and industry.

Reinforcing the competence in the area of technology monitoring

In order to reinforce competence in the area of cyber trend monitoring, also known as technology monitoring, the Cyber-Defence Campus set up a new team in 2023. It is led by Dr Alain Mermoud and deals exclusively with the analysis of trends, risks and dependencies of digital technologies. This is becoming increasingly important, as cyber threats which utilise the latest digital technologies are developing faster than ever in today’s digital world. It is a challenge to stay up to date when recognising these threats and assessing their potential impact.

The team now consists of the following employees: Dr Julian Jang-Jaccard, previously Professor and Head of the Cybersecurity Lab at Massey University in New Zealand, joined the Cyber-Defence Campus in October 2023. Valentin Mulder also joined the Technology Monitoring Team as a full-time employee in mid-2023 after previously completing an academic internship at the CYD Campus. In February 2024, Perceval Faramaz, likewise a former academic intern of the CYD Campus, will monitor the international developments and what is known as scouting. The team will also be supported by numerous scientists, academic interns, fellows and students from various higher education institutions.

In the last NCS for the years 2018 to 2022, the significance of the «Early detection of trends and technologies and knowledge creation» was highlighted. To do justice to this, the Technology Monitoring Team is also aligning its efforts with the DDPS’ cyber strategy and focusing in particular on the important task of «trend observation and support». This includes conducting in-depth technology and market research, the international scouting of start-ups and the maintenance of a cooperation network. The team also manages a platform for technology and market observation which is developed and maintained in cooperation with industry and partners from the academic sector.

Scientific and quantitative approach

Traditional technology monitoring is based very heavily on manual and qualitative methods. In contrast to this, the team is using the latest advances in big data and artificial intelligence, not only to enable a stronger quantitative approach, but also to integrate predictive methods and thus to improve the observation of technology. The approach is based on open data and stringent scientific methods.

The Technology Monitoring Team of the Cyber-Defence Campus supplies various security organisations in Switzerland, such as the Swiss Armed Forces, the Cyber Command (currently still Armed Forces Command Support Organisation AFCSO) and the National Cyber Security Centre NCSC with technological early clarification and workable proposals

Encryption technologies, generative artificial intelligence and quantum computing

In 2023 the team focused on three important technological trends: encryption technologies, generative artificial intelligence and quantum computing. A study conducted by the Technology Monitoring Team provides an overview of the developments, the current state of the art and the cyber defence implications of generative language models, which are known as Large Language Models (LLM).

A recently published study on LLMs was conducted in cooperation with Effixis SA, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), the HEC Lausanne (Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Lausanne) as well as the HES-SO Valais-Wallis (University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland) and provides industry, public administration and science in Switzerland with detailed insights into the development and risks of LLM.

A book on trends with 38 encryption technologies and technologies for protecting data appeared this year in cooperation with more than 50 predominantly Swiss experts from higher education institutions and industry.

Quantum technologies are monitored on an ongoing basis.

Podcast

Further informations

• Fundamentals of Generative Large Language Models and Perspectives in Cyber-Defense (arxiv.org)
• Trends in Data Protection and Encryption Technologies

Source : Cyber Defence Campus