Telenor, Norway's Aker ASA And Cognite Joint Venture To Launch Cyber Attack Anticipation Software

JAKARTA - Norwegian companies Telenor, Aker ASA and Cognite said a new security software company they plan to launch this year will help companies protect their industrial assets from the increased risk of cyber attacks since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"More and more objects (industries) are connected, and then you can add Russia-Ukraine on top of that," said Telenor CEO Sigve Brekke. It also added that the trend that accelerated during COVID, "is now going faster and faster".

Industrial facilities, control systems, oil pipelines, supply chains, power grids and healthcare are the main targets, Brekke told Reuters at the Global Markets Forum in Davos this week.

“Cybersecurity is an increasingly important concern for any company out there,” said Asa Tamsons, senior vice president and head of new business and business area technology at Ericsson, as more operations use the cloud, digital tools are deployed and connectivity in business increases.

John Lervik, co-founder and head of strategy and development for Cognite, said the new company Omni will help public and private companies monitor industry assets so they perform optimally, while protecting them from cyber attacks.

“Omniy will launch first in Norway in the fall of 2022 and then expand to the Nordics next year,” said Lervik.

Aker ASA CEO, Oyvind Eriksen, said the goal is to take Omniy globally, and the founders will be looking for international partners to scale it up.

Omny estimates that the operational technology security market will grow from 94 billion Norwegian krona (Rp 143.5 trillion) to almost 470 billion Norwegian krona by 2030, with the software share of the market estimated at 20%-30%.

Carl Carande, chief global advisor at KPMG, told Reuters on Tuesday that the way to reduce cyber threats is to work with big technology, governments and industry,

“It continues to drive coordination, collaboration and innovation, which is key,” said Carande at Davos. "Evil actors can only be right once and cause chaos. Everyone must always be right".