Unique innovation worldwide How Swisscom wants to better protect companies from cyber attacks

Companies in Switzerland are increasingly becoming the target of cyber attacks. Swisscom is responding to this with an innovation: the "beem" security solution is moving protection directly into the network - and should provide business customers with more comprehensive protection against digital threats in future.

Red and green graphics light up on a meter-long large screen. Several employees in the open-plan office sit in front of it, concentrating on their screens. It's pretty quiet when the media representatives arrive here at Swisscom's Operations Control Center. From here, Swisscom monitors all of its IT systems and networks throughout Switzerland. And it is here that Swisscom CEO Christoph Aeschlimann announces to the media what he calls "the next big thing" in cybersecurity.

Swisscom wants to better protect business customers against cyber attacks. Because Swiss companies are under constant attack. Cyberattacks are a recurring theme in the media , and Swisscom itself speaks of 200 million attempted attacks on its infrastructure every month.

For three years, employees have therefore been working on an innovation with which Swisscom wants to usher in "a new era of cybersecurity". Swisscom wants to integrate cyber security directly into its network infrastructure. Swisscom calls this "beem". This means that protection against cybercrime no longer primarily takes place on the device or at a location, but directly in the network. Business customers no longer connect directly to the Internet, but to "beemNet" - a kind of gateway to the Internet.

All data that is sent or received automatically undergoes numerous security checks in beemNet. Beem thus directly protects all users, devices and locations so that work can also be carried out securely in the home office and in public WLANs.

Data traffic can be checked more effectively directly on the network than if it is first checked by local protection programs. Today, cyber security at companies is often linked to locations. However, this is of no use if the data is in the cloud and can be accessed from outside. In addition, beem's security precautions are constantly being adapted to current cyber threats. If beem fends off a cyberattack, customers receive a push notification immediately.

According to Swisscom, beem is a unique combination of security and Internet access. There is no comparable offer in the world.

For the first time, beem is only available for business customers. Private customers already have access to various protection filters that are included in subscriptions, while companies can also decide for themselves how much protection they need - depending on their size, industry or location. Users without a Swisscom mobile subscription can also be protected.

However, even with beem there is no guaranteed protection. If something goes wrong, the liability still ultimately lies with the customer.