We will develop an Integrated Software Toolbox that will offer predictive Cybersecurity sensing, optimization and management services for the distributed IoT-to-Cloud continuum. The scope is to continuously maximizing the continuum’s infrastructure security and data privacy with minimal effect on its computing capacity, energy consumption, monetary costs, etc. that are necessary for the businesses to run. To do so, Twinning tools will be replicating the continuum as virtual (isolated) dataspaces, such that Threat Intelligence tools can stress-test the attack-surface of these dataspaces and predict optimal risk mitigation measures accurately and safely (i.e. pre-emptively protecting and without affecting the real system operation), subject to certain computing, energy, etc. thresholds set by the end-user. Scalability & Interoperability of services and data will be achieved via the use of open standards & APIs (including Eclipse Connector), while AI Automation will be embedded in all Toolbox processes. Identity & Access Management will be advanced over a zero-trust distributed computing pipeline covering all Hardware-, System-, and Application-level security. An initial Lab-testbed with matured DevSecOps & ML/Data-Ops stemming from previous EU Actions will lead our developments roadmap to 4x + 1 final TRL7 operational deployments that will be validated over 1st & 2nd Stage Demos covering use cases related to Telcos, Health 4.0, Transportation, Safety-critical Nuclear Infrastructures, and Smart Cities (cross-vertical supply-chain assessments). The impact will not only safeguard EU position in data security, economy and applications verticals, but lower energy efficiency and CO2 footprint. Sustainability & Industry acceptance will be achieved via open source ecosystems, standardization involvement, and a dedicated Portal for linking our dataspaces to EU Data Spaces (GAIA-X, IDSA, etc) and our innovations to EU Bodies related to Cybersecurity, AI, IOT and Robotics.

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.

Hospitals and care centres are prime targets for cyber criminals, especially concerning data theft, denial-of-service and ransomware. This reflects the need of Healthcare Institutions for a Holistic Cyber Security vulnerability assessment toolkit, that will be able to proactively assess and mitigate cyber-security threats known or unknown, imposed by devices and services within a corporate ecosystem. SPHINX aims to introduce a Universal Cyber Security Toolkit, thus enhancing the cyber protection of Health IT Ecosystem and ensuring the patient data privacy and integrity. SPHINX toolkit will provide an automated zero-touch device and service verification toolkit that will be easily adapted or embedded on existing, medical, clinical or health available infrastructures, whereas a user/admin will be able to choose from a number of available security services through SPHINX cyber security toolkit. The SPHINX toolkit will enable service providers to specify complete services and sell or advertise these through a secure and easy to use interface. SPHINX Toolkit will be validated through pan-European demonstrations in three different scenarios. The operational properties of the proposed cyber-security ecosystem and overall solution will be validated and evaluated against performance, effectiveness and usability indicators at three different countries (Romania, Portugal and Greece). Hospitals, care centers and device manufacturers participating in the project’s pilots will deploy and evaluate the solution at business as usual and emergency situations across various use case scenarios.

CS-AWARE-NEXT aims to provide improved cybersecurity management capabilities to organizations and local/regional supply networks. Such organisations and networks operate in a highly dynamic cybersecurity environment, and are required to comply with prevailing European legislation such as the network and information security (NIS) directive. The way such organizations approach cybersecurity increasingly needs to be more dynamic and more collaborative, building on a shared situational awareness of potential cybersecurity issues relevant to the organisations and networks in question. To achieve this, CS-AWARE-NEXT has identified several focus areas to be addressed: (a) Improved organisational policy support to enable organizations to deal better with the dynamic nature of cybersecurity. (b) Greatly enhanced cooperation/collaboration within the organization and with external actors, such as those comprising the local/regional supply chain. (c) Better integration of threat intelligence in operational cybersecurity management using innovative AI approaches and techniques. (d) Much improved disaster recovery/business continuity, integrated in operational cybersecurity management. (e) Elevated evidence collection and information sharing with relevant actors on the multi-level European cybersecurity framework. (f) Improved capacity for enabling organizations to assess their security status in comparison with other relevant actors through benchmarking and profiling. CS-AWARE-NEXT builds on the awareness, cybersecurity information sharing, and system self-healing capabilities of the CS-AWARE platform developed during the H2020 project of the same name. The integration of the advanced capabilities of CS-AWARE-NEXT will enable organizations and dependent supply networks to be much more effective and efficient in their use of cybersecurity platforms like CS-AWARE, supporting their day-to-day cybersecurity risk and incident management operations.

The objective is to create a network/community/ecosystem of procurers and relevant stakeholders in PPI. The idea is to empower all the actors involved in PPI through this network, focusing on the procurers. We need to attract both experienced procurers and not experienced procurers if we want to succeed in this. We will also need to analyse current barriers and needs of procurers, and then create and shared tools to facilitate PPI for all the actors involved.