Security By Design: Enhancing the Cybersecurity and the Sustainability of Military Operations Through Civil-Military Synergies

The current international politico-military context, influenced by the war in Ukraine, generated a deeper focus of military leaders on the sustainability of operations. A decisive measure in this respect refers to the revitalization of defence industry of the European Union Member States, to increase the capacity of producing military equipment and systems. But from the cybersecurity perspective, the way production is approached from its early stages, like designing, is of paramount importance. This article explores the possibility of military and civilian actors to cooperate and set the conditions so that the produced items be secured from cyber vulnerabilities that could impede the success of military missions. The objective is to identify the activities and areas were both parties should involve more to facilitate an effective cooperation. To reach the mentioned objective, this research is based on a qualitative approach. The case study method was applied to bring to light good practices that allow the identification of concrete actions. The most important result of this study is represented by the process of implementing security by design in capability development, comprising actions to be taken by both military and civilian actors from the outset of military equipment production.