The CCN is a Spanish state agency attached to the National Intelligence Center. Additionally, the Graz University of Technology in Austria will join the Charter as an associate member. The group focuses primarily on cybersecurity research and, for example, was one of the teams that discovered the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. Associate membership is a new format through which the Charter is opening itself up to cooperation with key government representatives, universities, and think tanks. The benefit for these organizations is that they can collaborate on specific projects without having to become full members with all the associated rights and responsibilities.

“In the era of the Internet of Things, cybersecurity is crucial. Our Charter of Trust initiative is a very important first step,” said Joe Kaeser, CEO of Siemens. “We are open to many more partners. Cybersecurity is key to successful digital businesses, as it is to protecting critical infrastructure. We hope this initiative will lead to active public awareness and, ultimately, to mandatory rules and standards.”

Supply chain security has been an area of ​​growing and intense interest. Third-party risks in supply chains are becoming a frequent problem and are the source of 60 percent of cyberattacks, according to Accenture Strategy. Member companies of the Charter of Trust have developed baseline requirements and are proposing their implementation to make cybersecurity an absolute necessity across all digital supply chains. These requirements address all aspects of cybersecurity, including people, processes, and technology.

Examples of these requirements include:
Data must be protected against unauthorized access throughout its lifecycle.
An appropriate level of identity, access control, and monitoring, including for third parties, will be determined.
A process will be established to ensure that products and services are authentic and identifiable.
A minimum level of security education and training will be regularly implemented for employees.

The members of the Charter of Trust are establishing a risk-based methodology for implementing these requirements in their own supply chains, involving supply chain partners in the process.

In 2018, the Charter of Trust roundtables around the world initiated a profound exchange between policymakers and Charter partners. Governments and industry are aligning themselves at global, national, and regional levels in pursuit of common security objectives. The “Paris Peace Call for Trust & Security in Cyberspace,” launched in November 2018 by French President Emmanuel Macron, is a clear commitment to building and achieving stability in cyberspace and confirms the willingness to work together to define and implement international cybersecurity principles. In terms of content, the Paris Peace Call shares key tenets with the Charter of Trust principles, and partners hope to see them reinforced at the upcoming G7 summit. The new EU cybersecurity law has also been an important step toward strengthening cyber institutions and providing a framework for developing cybersecurity certifications. The members of the Charter of Trust hope to contribute their expertise to address the development of the certifications, as implementation gets underway in 2019.

Furthermore, the Charter of Trust has set ambitious goals for 2019. In addition to deepening and expanding policy dialogue, members plan to promote two key themes: “cybersecurity by default” and “education,” which refers to the configuration of predictive cybersecurity embedded in products and other environments, as well as global ongoing training efforts, both within and outside of companies.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, cybersecurity threats in 2018 caused losses of €500 billion worldwide. And cybersecurity threats are constantly growing as the world continues to digitize: according to Gartner, 8.4 billion connected devices were in use in 2017, a 31 percent increase over 2016. This figure is expected to rise to 20.4 billion by 2020.
You can find the text of the Charter of Trust here.