On October 29, the Federal Council approved the report on the SCION postulate. Following in the footsteps of the Swiss National Bank, SIX, hundreds of commercial banks, thousands of doctors, and the Swiss energy sector with its critical infrastructure, the Federal Council now also sees clear opportunities for the use of SCION within the Swiss Confederation.
Lucerne, 30. October 2025 – In its analysis, the Federal Council sees numerous useful applications for the SCION technology developed by ETH Zurich. SCION enables better control and protection of communication via the internet. One of the areas of application identified by the federal government is the connection of external locations in Switzerland and abroad to the federal administration’s network. In addition, the Federal Council sees the potential for SCION to make home office work, which is widespread within the federal government, significantly more secure. Data traffic between the administration and the public could also become more secure thanks to SCION: “From today’s perspective, it is conceivable that these services could also be protected in the future through the use of SCION technology.” The Federal Council states: “This technology appears to be technically mature.”
Federal Council: SCION is technically mature
Luzius Cameron, co-CEO of the SCION Association, says: “The federal administration’s analysis has shown that SCION can make a valuable contribution to data security in Switzerland.” Martin Bosshardt, CEO of implementation partner Anapaya, adds: “We are delighted that the federal government recognizes the advantages of SCION and wants to use it for the federal administration and thus for the benefit of all Swiss citizens.”
SCION is a success story – high security for little money
The SCION network protocol was developed at ETH Zurich in 2009 and its distribution was initiated in 2017. With success: the Swiss National Bank, SIX, and more than 300 commercial banks use the SCION-based Swiss Secure Finance Network (SSFN), which completely replaced the old Finance IP network mentioned in the Federal Council’s report in September 2024. More than CHF 300 billion is transferred daily on the SSFN using SCION. In addition, more than 30,000 doctors send data via the SCION-supported Swiss Health Info Net. In the summer, the electricity industry announced the launch of the Swiss Secure Utility Network based on SCION. What convinces customers?
- SCION guarantees data sovereignty, which is particularly important in geopolitically sensitive times. When using SCION, Swiss data remains in Switzerland during transport if desired.
- SCION offers security similar to that of private networks that are independent of the Internet. It does so with increased flexibility and control at a low price.
- SCION is an open-source protocol. The SCION Association in Lucerne is a non-profit organization that ensures that the core technology remains open and that the open-source implementation is maintained.
Politicians recognized the value of SCION early on
On June 20, 2023, the National Council’s Security Policy Committee submitted postulate
23.3958: “Securing data traffic in the federal administration” and called for the use of SCION to be examined at the federal administration level. With the adoption of the postulate report, the Federal Council has now fulfilled this mandate. It currently sees Swiss Internet providers as having a particular responsibility, as it believes their licensing models for SCION are still too expensive. “The Federal Council expects providers to make their offerings more attractive.” SCION’s expansion is also progressing rapidly internationally. SCION is now available worldwide and accessible to 40 million end users, particularly in the Benelux region.
ABOUT THE SCION Association
The SCION Association is a non-profit organization based in Lucerne, Switzerland, founded in 2022 with the goal of managing SCION technology and promoting its community. Together with its members, it creates open technical specifications and maintains the open-source implementation of SCION. For more information, visit www.scion.org
About Anapaya
Anapaya was founded in 2017 to promote SCION technology. Following successful implementations in critical infrastructure industries including financial, healthcare, utility and energy in Switzerland, SCION has now also gained significant international prominence thanks to Anapaya. SCION is now available worldwide. In the Benelux region alone, SCION is accessible to 40 million end users. For more information, visit www.anapaya.net.
MEDIA CONTACTS
- SCION Association: Luzius Cameron & Nicola Rustignoli, co-CEOs, [email protected], [email protected]
- Anapaya: Ivonne Cano-Hälg, Email: [email protected]