Leonardo Reinvents Itself with Strategic Nordic Cybersecurity Acquisitions

Leonardo Reinvents Itself with Strategic Nordic Cybersecurity Acquisitions

Acquisitions matter when they give a company capabilities, markets or a strategic position it could not easily build itself. Leonardo’s Nordic deals are a good example. They show a defense group using regional cyber expertise, and the speed of buying instead of building, to reposition itself as security spending rises.

• Leonardo is expanding its cybersecurity business with a string of Nordic deals.
• The moves reflect how central cyber has become to defense.
• Leonardo plans to fold the technology into secure systems it sells to governments.
• CEO Roberto Cingolani has explained the strategy behind the deals.

A summer of Nordic deals

Leonardo, Italy’s largest defense company, spent the summer of 2025 buying into Nordic cybersecurity firms. In July it took a €20 million ($23 million) quarter stake in Finnish firm SSH, becoming its largest shareholder. A week later it agreed to buy Swedish access-control specialist Axiomatics, adding to an earlier stake in Swedish startup CanaryBit and a partnership with Danish firm Arbit.

Why defense groups want cyber firms

Defense networks and critical infrastructure need strong security, and Leonardo wants to sell it. SSH brings cryptography and secure access technology. Axiomatics brings dynamic authorization, a core piece of the “Zero Trust” approach in which every access request is checked.

Leonardo’s Zero Trust push

CEO Roberto Cingolani told Defense News the deals are meant to help Leonardo lead a European push toward Zero Trust. “Our recent activity in the Nordic region is not the result of isolated acquisitions, but part of a broader strategic vision to build sovereign and resilient digital ecosystems across Europe,” he said.

Building European partnerships

Leonardo is also building partnerships across Europe as it grows. Cingolani has framed the deals as a way to strengthen European digital autonomy with technology that is developed and governed in Europe. Both SSH and Axiomatics already work for government agencies.

What it means for Leonardo

Cyber is becoming a bigger part of Leonardo’s business. Its Cyber and Security Solutions unit reported €648 million in revenue for 2024, with new orders up 20.4 percent to €833 million.

Cingolani argues that no future combat aircraft, drone or space system can be built without security designed in. Leonardo’s competitors are making similar bets, and buyers in defense and infrastructure should expect more cyber capability bundled into the platforms they purchase.

Frank Jones, CISSP

Frank Jones has loved computers from the age of 13. Frank got his hacking career started when he downloaded a war dialing program that he used to detect dial up modems in his hometown of Chicago. Frank Jones now works as a JAVA coder and cyber security researcher.