CERAWeek ’18: Siemens adds three new partners to Charter of Trust cybersecurity initiative

HOUSTON -- Cybersecurity has been a dominant topic throughout IHS Markit’s 2018 CERAWeek. While threatening cyber activity has reportedly cost the U.S. billions of dollars in recent years, Siemens is taking additional steps to protect critical infrastructure related to the energy sector through its new cybersecurity initiative, Charter of Trust.

Siemens—along with the eight founding Charter of Trust member companies, including Airbus, Allianz, Daimler Group, IBM, MSC, NXP, SGS and Deutsche Telekom—signed an agreement on Thursday, adding three more partners to its international coalition. The new members include AES Corporation, an international power company that provides energy distribution and generation in 15 countries; Atos, a digital transformation front-runner operating in 72 countries; and Enel, a power company operating in more than 30 countries around the world.

According to a joint press release, the Charter of Trust seeks to impose binding rules and standards to ensure greater digital security and integrity in both the public and private sectors of oil and gas, power generation and distribution, as well as all digital applications related to IoT. It outlines ten principles, asserting that companies and governments are taking necessary measures against cyberattacks and protecting stakeholders.

Siemens President and CEO Joe Kaeser said that dangerous cyberattacks on secure data, energy systems and infrastructure are “growing more frequent and more sophisticated.” As a result, participating companies are coming together with three common goals in mind: 1) Data protection; 2) Prevention of harm to individuals, businesses and infrastructure; and 3) A reliable foundation that provides assurance in the growth of digital transformation.

“This is not about computers being hacked or cell phones being compromised,” Kaeser said. “It is about keeping physical assets safe.”