Olympic Information Security Manager

Yan Noblot was a part of the Atos Origin Olympic Games Project Team for both the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens and the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino.

As Olympic Information Security Manager Yan played a major role during the integration phase of  each of these projects, when all the systems developed by Atos Origin and the other partners which make up the Olympic Games delivery team were brought together prior to each of the Games.  Yan’s role leading the Security Operation Team when the Games were actually in full swing was of the utmost importance.

“The major challenge for the Security team for both Athens and Torino was that there was no distinct item of requirement for “security” in our contract with the International Olympic Committee.” Yan explains.    

This meant that a deep understanding of the business was needed to evaluate the impact of the potential security incidents that could occur during the running of the Olympic Games.  An intensive period of consultation with each function of the local Olympic Organizing Committee was necessary to define what being “secure” really meant.  Following this consultation phase specific requirements could be defined and agreed, and a solution was developed.  Implementation of the solution was followed by days and days of intensive testing.

“We needed to build a model specifically for the Olympic Games.  There was no precedence for integrating security in such a complex programme”, Yan stresses. “We learned that in order to be successful we had to develop an end-to-end vision of the project which started with the identification of the risks we must avoid before we could design, build and operate the security control. This meant that risk management must be built in very early on in the design of the Olympic Games systems.  Security was not a “layer” that could be added to the system during the implementation phase, but had to be design and integrated into the run of the IT Operations.”

For Yan’s team this meant working in an extremely efficient manner.  “During the operations phase for each of these Games I had shifts of 7 people to monitor the system.  This was a system which had 14,000 IT devices on a very high volume, high traffic network!  We must work very efficiently, making use of all the tools and utilities developed by the IT Operations team, and working in a well integrated manner with this team.  There is no second chance when it comes to the staging of the Olympic Games.”
Yan feels that it was a great privilege to have been part of the Olympic Games Project Team.  “The people who make up this team are amazing. I had never seen such high levels of commitment before!” Yan enthuses.  “Every person had the positive attitude that whatever it took to get the job done would be done.  We worked together for years in this atmosphere and became like a family.” 

With 12 different nationalities on his team, Yan learned a lot about working with people from different cultures. “You must learn to see the positive in all of these people and their cultural attitudes. You need to work with this knowledge to get the most out of your team. Everyone learns something from these other cultures and over time a greater understanding of each culture’s ways of working. The Olympic Games Project is the school of Project Management.  There is no learning ground quite like this one.  The project can not go wrong.  It can not be late. And, it must be on budget.  It’s a simple as that!” Yan states emphatically.

Yan left the Olympic Games Project Team following the Torino Games in 2006, and he feels that he has brought new skills and knowledge into his current role based on his experiences.  At this time he is developing a Global Portfolio for Security for Atos Origin and he’s using the methods he refined during his time on the team.  “I have learned that you must put yourself in the shoes of the customer to fully understand what their requirement for security is. Only through this in-depth understanding (often gained simultaneously with the customer) can an end-to-end secure system be developed.  Security requires an end-to-end vision of the risks, the controls that can mitigate them and the operations of those controls.  Risk management must be employed from day one.  Each client’s situation is unique.  You must design and implement a system to meet their security situation which can be operated effectively in their environement.”  Yan explains  “Atos Origin is one of the few companies who has a proven record of successful experience in this”.