Criminals and terrorists use more and more data hiding methods (steganography) for concealing incriminating information in innocent-looking digital media files such as images, video, audio, and text files. UNCOVERs main objective is to fill existing gaps in the ability of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) for detecting the presence of such hidden information (i.e., steganalysis). To carry out a full investigation into criminal and terrorist activities, LEAs currently use available (commercial) tools to detect hidden information in collected digital media. However, these tools detect only a limited number of hiding methods, are slow, and offer no indication of confidence. Moreover, many commercial tools lag a decade behind the scientific state-of-the-art. The members of UNCOVER are committed to bridge these gaps and thus substantially increase the technological autonomy of LEAs in the field of digital media steganalysis. With its consortium of 22 partners including LEAs, forensic institutes, leading researchers working at universities and research institutions, as well as industrial companies, UNCOVER sets out to outperform available steganalysis solutions in terms of performance (number of detectable steganographic methods, detection accuracy), usability, operational needs, privacy protection, and chain-of-custody considerations. The developed detection and investigation tools will be integrated into a flexible and user-friendly platform. End-users play a key role throughout the project cycle: from proposal writing over analysis of user requirements and tools development through the final evaluation. In particular, regular feedback cycles with LEAs, forensics institutes and external stakeholders will ensure that the developed solutions can be integrated into the daily criminal investigation pipeline of LEAs. A set of clearly defined Key Performance Indicators allows an objective evaluation of progress and end results against the defined objectives.

SALUS addresses the growing security challenges of IoT systems by providing law enforcement with (i) new forensic investigation schemes and policies, and (ii) advanced IoT forensic tools for threat detection, evidence collection, and cross-agency collaboration, all while ensuring compliance with EU legal and ethical frameworks. To implement this, the project combines a novel Digital-Twin (DT) infrastructure for proactive threat simulation, a secure Software Defined Network-enabled IoT architecture (SDaaSS) acting as the backbone of the DT for dynamic policy enforcement, and AI-powered forensic capabilities for real-time IoT device detection, lawful evidence interception, and blockchain-based chain of custody. Validated through five diverse pilot use cases in collaboration with five (5) police authorities and two (2) critical infrastructure providers (hospitals and nuclear power plants), SALUS bridges technology and operational needs to enhance security in critical infrastructures and IoT ecosystems. The above technological developments will be closely accompanied by activities concerning: i) incorporation of legal and ethical aspects, including fundamental rights, privacy, personal data, etc, ii) integration of operational aspects, alignment with relevant EU cybersecurity policies, analysis of modus operandi, lawful evidence exploitation, and delivery of policy recommendations for tackling new and emerging forms of IoT-related crime, all aimed at improving police authorities’ understanding, iii) development of multi-dimensional, comprehensive practitioner training activities and joint exercises, tailored to the organization of operational-level hackathon activities, iv) Development of investigation, technological and security standards, and v) Establishment of a synergistic ecosystem among related national and EU-funded projects, as well as stakeholders from the law enforcement community.