On the 9th of November, 2022, Utilis participated in the Security of Banks and Financial Institutions (SIGBANK) conference, were we held a presentation on the importance of cyber incident response exercises. The Security of Banks and Financial Institutions conference was held in the Westin hotel under the sponsorship of the Croatian Ministry of Internal Affairs. The overall focus of the conference was on the Croatian entry into the eurozone, with a total of seven highlighted presentations by various participants. The presenters ranged from state actors, such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, to various private sector businesses like Diverto and Hikvision. Utilis’ representatives held a presentation named: “Cyber ​​incident response and crisis management exercises in the event of a cyber incident”.

In the period from the 26th to the 27th of October 2022, Utilis participated in the CONCORDIA Open Door event. We presented our flagship product, Cyber Conflict Simulator, a tool for preparing a response to cyber-incidents, to various interested parties. CONCORDIA Open Door is an event held every year as an opportunity for various actors in business and academia to both raise awareness about the need for cybersecurity and advertise their products. This year, the event was held in Munich. Concordia project was extended until 2023 and it involves 46 partners. Some of the largest actors in European cybersecurity are involved in the project, such as the European Defence Agency, ENISA and Europol, along with large business actors such as Siemens, Airbus and Atos. Utilis joined the project relatively recently, in 2020. The project is headed by the Research Institute CODE from the Bundeswehr University Munich. You can find out more about the project at the following link: https://www.concordia-h2020.eu/

In the period from the 19th to the 20th of October 2022, Utilis participated in the DEEP Conference. Goran Polonji (Utilis) and Stjepan Groš, PhD (University of Zagreb, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) held a presentation about our experiences in preparing and conducting cyber-exercises. This presentation was also an introduction to workshops that were held later. The remainder of our activities at the conference revolved around conducting CCS-centred workshops, of which there were two in total.  Both workshops involved around 10 participants each, which were split up into 5 teams. Each team was playing one role from a typical CSIRT team structure – management, business owners, IT team, OT team and incident manager. The teams were collaborating in solving the incident and in both workshops, teams performed very well. The scenario used for the exercise was a simulated attack against a fictional organization that provides the services of an electricity transmission system operator. The model of the organization contained IT and OT infrastructure business services and processes. The two workshops were completed successfully, and the participants expressed interest in conducting further demonstrations involving CCS, as well as utilising CCS in their own organizations.

On September 29, 2022, Utilis representatives participated in the Conference on Significant Incidents - Preparation and Reaction, organized by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb. The conference was organized with the aim of raising awareness about the threat of cyberattacks and the need to improve cyber security in the IT sector and the wider business world. The presentation given by our representatives had a special focus on the need for regular exercises as the best source of preparedness for cyber incidents. Along with undertaking optimal defensive activities, shorter response time to cyberattacks and reducing the damage caused by the incident, other positive values ​​are also being built, such as quality and timely communication, understanding the expectations of individual roles and building mutual trust. In our presentation, we gave answers to questions such as Why exercise at all?, Who to train? and many others. We elaborated and went into the details of the concept, type and characteristics of an exercise, and emphasized the special importance that exercises have in gaining experience. The life cycle of implementing cyberattack response exercises was described as well. At the conference, interested participants were also given a presentation on the Cyber ​​Conflict Simulator (CCS) simulation system and how to conduct exercises at the conference.

At the end of 2015 the deployment of application for DZIV is finished. The new application is based on experiences and good practices from the old version but is made using new tools and technologies. During the development a close cooperation of Utilis and DZIV teams has been established which allowed effective monitoring of the set of processes and optimized interface for users.

In 2015, we completed another successful implementation of Hefesto and its integration into the operating system of OiV (Transmitters and Communications Ltd.). This continues a long-standing successful cooperation of Utilis and OiV that ends with completion and the successful integration of our software into a complex business system of major Croatian company for radio and telecommunications.

 After the successful implementation of Hefesto - system for maintenance management in Croatia and Slovenia recently, our new user is the largest Croatian company for the production and distribution of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, Badel 1862 d.d.. In the implementation, tight integration with the operating system that manages warehouse management was achieved.

 After many years of successful cooperation with the company Alstom (now General Electric) in Croatia, Utilis successfully implemented its Project and documentation management system in the subsidiary company in Romania. Since the start of the negotiations by the end of the implementation less than a year passed and the system has for some time now in full operation and significantly facilitates the work of GE employees in Romania.

The new owners of KentBank d.d. addressed Utilis with a request that we create a new website for the bank, based on our content management system. Respecting the default design requirements Utilis did implement a CMS in record time and on 14th September 2012 web site were available for public viewing.

At first glance it is clear that the main guiding principle, while making web pages, were simplicity and clarity. The bank’s home page provides all essential information for the potential clients. There is no need to search large amounts of unnecessary and "hidden" content.

KentBank d.d. is the part of Süzer Group, a Turkish conglomerate that has already been engaged for 60 years in various business activities around the world. This is the first investment of Suzer Group in Croatia.

After several successful presentations of Hefesto by our team, Končar Distribution and Special Transformers Inc. opted for the implementation of our software. Končar D & ST is one of the most successful companies in Croatia and one of the largest exporters to markets around the world.

Unquestionable quality and competitive prices of their products has been further strengthened by Hefesto, which can  very precisely control all aspects of maintenance in such a complex system, and achieve significant financial savings.

In the meantime, we continued development of additional modules specific to the needs of Koncar. Hefesto is so recognized as a thoughtful, configurable and reliable software and Utilis as a partner that respects the needs of its clients.

One of the world's leading manufacturer of exhaust systems for cars and motorcycles, Akrapovič d.d. from Republic of Slovenia, decided to implement Utilis Hefesto, our software for maintenance managament. Extremely challenging and uncompromising production of top motorsport components will be improved with software that has proven itself in practice and that successfully saves time and money to several highly successful companies in Croatia. 

This was the first installation of Hefesto outside Croatia and with that, Utilis begins it's breakthrough on EU markets.