Current R&D Projects

Technological advances in Information communication Technologies (ICT) as well as the digital transformation of complex systems have led to the development of novel networks, platforms and systems, which have, in turn, kick-started the realisation process for multi-faceted technological collaborations and data-driven workflows on a scale never seen before. Consequently, an integration process among the different layers of complex systems and services has been unfolding raising significant issues and challenges in its wake. Hence, the digital data and collaboration spaces are all predicated upon the realisation of what is known as the computing continuum, which is based on the integration of cloud, edge and Internet of Things (IoT). Nevertheless, this has given rise to significant security and privacy risks especially since it is about systems that involve a high number of entities and devices with different profiles, processing a vast amount of potentially sensitive info.

MEDIATE’s vision is to produce a robust technology, which will address the security and privacy attributes of the computing continuum. For this, it will put forth a complex architecture that is based on the concept of zero-trust and will assume a federated learning approach in order to perform security-based scrutinisation at all continuum levels. i.e. IoT, edge and cloud, using security models that can be updated, redistributed and reconfigured across it. The actual features of the MEDIATE framework will support major topic outcomes such as cybersecurity resilience through reconfiguration, vulnerabilities mitigation through cyber threat analysis, secure integration at the IoT level through software and hardware-based security sensors and trust and security for massive ecosystems through the use of federated learning-based orchestration. Moreover, it will feature AI-based tools for cyber threat intelligence that assist a decision support system and privacy policies for data and identity protection.

The PANDORA project focuses on advancing AI and data engineering to drive industrial innovation and enhance the EU economy. It addresses challenges in IoT-generated data processing, aiming to create a single data market for Europe’s global competitiveness. PANDORA aims to develop AI-driven frameworks for preparing and delivering trustworthy datasets, enhancing AI models’ accuracy and sustainability in AIoT systems. Its mission includes increasing autonomy, trustworthiness, and energy efficiency in managing IoT datasets for smarter and more responsive devices in smart space ecosystems.

CYBERUNITY is a project launched by the European Commission with a primary focus on cybersecurity. Its main goal is to build an interoperable community of Cyber Ranges in Europe by initially bringing together the cyber ranges owned and operated by the partners in the consortium. This initiative aims to develop open interoperability specifications and provide the first interoperable cyber range infrastructure. Additionally, CYBERUNITY will deploy a secure framework that enables cross-organization and cross-border integrated cyber range services, with capabilities demonstrated through several cross-border scenarios involving systems in critical sectors. The project is expected to benefit about 2000 cyber defenders from all regions of Europe, including those with less access to unified cyber range facilities.

The need to strengthen SMEs’ cybersecurity is crucial, as they are the backbone of the economy and social fabric of the EU. Numerous cybersecurity reports show that the attacks on SMEs have risen rapidly especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic as it forced SMEs to embrace remote working and a shift towards new digital technologies, albeit without having adequate cybersecurity defenses in place.

GR-SME-SOC aims to create a sectoral SOC supporting the Greek SME community. It will operate independently, under the aegis of the Greek National Cyber Security Authority (NCSA). The consortium will contribute a rich set of easy-to-deploy, ready-to-use, and high-maturity tools for high performance real-time monitoring, threat detection, prediction and recommendations, as well as reporting, alerting and coordinated response capabilities. It will provide a rich set of endpoint detectors, such as network firewalls and anti-malware systems at the SMEs’ systems and networks, allowing continuous monitoring, information gathering and malicious event capturing. It will also develop and provide playbooks for proactive and reactive automated defensive courses of action.

The endpoint information will be aggregated in the SOC, enriched with public CTI data, and used for AI-enhanced data analysis. State-of-the-art ML-based data fusion, correlation and analysis solutions will provide UEBA capabilities to the SMEs by enabling attack categorization, prioritization, prediction and recommendation. GR-SME-SOC will provide risk assessments as well as communication and reporting mechanisms for SME information exchange, entities across different sectors, and the authorities. Finally, it will be tested and evaluated in real world scenarios and at scale, providing its services to 120 SMEs.

This proposal is supported by the Ministry of Digital Governance of Greece and the National Cybersecurity Authority(Letter) and is fully in line with the Greek Cyber Security Strategy.

5G -and beyond- networks provide a strong foundation for EU’s digital transformation and are becoming one of the Union’s key assets to compete in the global market. Since 5G (and its future evolutions, 6G etc.) offers the fabric that connects EU systems and services, critical infrastructures, economy, etc., it is imperative to focus on the security, privacy, and trust challenges that surface due to their open, disaggregate and interoperable underlying technology solutions. Securing 5G networks and the services running on top of them requires high quality technical security solutions and also strong collaboration at the operational level. All stakeholders (operators, vertical infrastructures, national authorities and public bodies, security experts, research community, etc.) must work together to build robust defenses and establish cooperation channels and practices for preparedness, incident handling, response and mitigation actions etc. The main aim of SAND5G is to deliver a risk and impact assessment platform for 5G to support a) 5G stakeholders secure their systems and services b) National Authorities and Member States’ Regulators overview the security status and applied measures that implement their national cybersecurity strategies and legislation, in line with European 5G cybersecurity policies and proposed EU toolbox for 5G security.

Critical Infrastructures (CIs) within critical sectors, such as telecommunications, energy, maritime and health, are now heavily relying on complex ICT infrastructures and key technologies (industrial control systems, cloud, IoT and Artificial Intelligence) to deliver robust and reliable services. Cyber-attacks on such infrastructure are constantly increasing and the impact of any successful attack could be devastating. There is an increased pressure to develop skilled cybersecurity workforce to tackle this situation and proactively manage the system to monitor for the overall continuity. Cybersecurity ranges with advanced capability can support this need through delivering state-of-the-art – training facilities for the overall security awareness and effective cyber defence. In this context, SecAwarenessTruss will deliver a customized federated cybersecurity range platform that will offer systematic and innovative training programs targeting Critical Infrastructure organisations to develop a skilled workforce for cyber defence and collaborative response. The project will include cross sector complex scenarios, gamification based exercise and knowledge sharing capability aiming for hands-on and interactive learning facility. SecAwarenessTruss is built on a collaboration of 10 organisations from 2 EU member states (Greece and Cyprus) which is composed by 6 industrial partners including 4 critical infrastructure organisations from telecom, energy, health, and maritime sectors and 2 SMEs.

SecAwarenessTruss is supported by the Ministry of Digital Governance of Greece and the National Cybersecurity Authority (Letters of Support have been submitted) and is fully in line with the Greek Cyber Security Strategy.

NERO is an advanced Cybersecurity Ecosystem consisting of five interrelated frameworks provisioned to offer a Cybersecurity Awareness program, as recommended by ENISA to be the best way to educate and develop a security-first culture amongst employees on how to mitigate the impact of cyber threats and incorporate activities, resources, and training to foster a cyber security culture. NERO primarily provides SMEs with a Cyber Immunity Toolkit Repository, Cyber Resilience Program, and Cyber Awareness Training via Gamification and provides its modules through a user-friendly Marketplace. The effectiveness and the performance of the concept will be validated in three use case demonstrations on different domains: Enhancing Patient Data Security in Healthcare through Cybersecurity Tools; Strengthening Supply Chain Resilience through Cybersecurity Awareness in the Transportation and Logistics Industry; and Boosting Financial Security through Enhanced Cybersecurity Awareness and Tools.

ERMIS project aims to deliver cyber security assurance and insurance as-a-service, by integrating mechanisms, services, and tools in an innovative marketplace platform.

A prominent trend in the adoption of modern cyber security practices has been noticed in several industrial sectors, which is tightly coupled with regular auditing tasks, for assessing the cybersecurity preparedness of the organisations in these sectors, and effective cyber insurance approaches, towards enhanced risk mitigation and more robust cyber resilience.

The ERMIS marketplace will govern and operate the support and execution of the relevant cyber security assurance processes to assist the stakeholders in a seamless and transparent employment of technology-oriented and interconnected cyber risk assessment, security certification, and cyber insurance operations.

SYNAPSE aims to design, develop & deliver an Integrated Cyber Security Risk & Resilience Management Platform, with holistic Situational Awareness, Incident Response & Preparedness capabilities. The proposed platform will encompass: (i) Incident Response through process automation and orchestration mechanisms, also covering organisational/business aspects (e.g. business continuity processes); (ii) AI-enhanced Situational Awareness, encompassing extraction & analytics of actionable and pertinent Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI), along with attack early warning & threat hunting systems; (iii) Preparedness through cybersecurity, privacy & business continuity training, covering different training delivery means, allowing it to tailor the delivery method to the content; (iv) Technical & economic risk management, integrating outputs of (i)-(iii) above and supporting risk-benefit analyses (including what-if scenarios) to inform decision-making and enable risk transfer schemes with Smart Contract-enabled cybersecurity insurance; (v) Continuous feedback between (i)-(iv) above, along with standards-based sharing, alerting & reporting (intra- & inter- Member State), based on outputs of (i)-(iii) above, thus enabling the establishment of shared situational awareness, coordinated response and joint preparedness.

CUSTODES will develop and implement an innovative configurable, user-friendly, and cost-effective Composite Inspection and Certification (CIC) System which will facilitate the cybersecurity certification of ICT Products (software, hardware, ICT systems, ICT Services, ICT Processes) which will serve as Targets of Evaluation (ToE). CUSTODES will be validated in three pilots, a) one of two Class I composite products with digital elements, b) one of an ICT product with an embedded AI component, and c) a final one of the as-a-service functionality through EIT Digital extensive digital ecosystem.

RESCALE aims at designing, building, and demonstrating secure-by-design supply chains. To this end, RESCALE will (i) automate the evaluation processes of both software and hardware components, (ii) ensure that third-party segments are free from vulnerabilities, (iii) offer effective audit procedures for cybersecurity testing, and (iv) enable the construction of secure systems with the strongest possible guarantees. Overall, RESCALE will systematically analyse and extend, as necessary, every hardware and software layer in a computing system and apply novel tools and methodologies at every step of the entire supply chain.

Organisations across the sectors significantly benefit from digital transformation to support evolving business models, services and customer experience. Despite the benefits of digital infrastructure adoption, there are numerous security challenges that could pose any digital disruption and risks for the critical service delivery and overall business continuity. There is a need to understand the overall digital infrastructure context and analyse and predict the possible threats and incidents in real time so that quick and accurate responses can be taken into consideration for ensuring resilience of service delivery. Additionally, collaborative response and sharing of threat intelligence information is necessary to create overall awareness and increase the response capability of all stakeholders within the ecosystem. CyberSecDome will integrate advanced virtuality reality (VR) to extend the capability of the security solutions aiming to enhance security, privacy and resilience of the Digital Infrastructure. The project will consider AI-enabled security solutions to provide a better prediction of cybersecurity threats and related risks towards an efficient and dynamic incident management and optimise collaborative response among the stakeholders within the Digital Infrastructure ecosystem.

Overview: Bio-Streams aims on supporting the optimal use (and re-use) of health data (e.g. biological, demographic, epigenetic, etc.) to generate metadata/knowledge and provide new evidence, methodologies & tools for: a) creating and deploying the Bio-Streams Biobank that will act as a scientific platform for research in obesity and better diagnostic and therapeutic approaches;b) understanding the transition from metabolically healthy to unhealthy, preventing under-age obesity; c) designing better strategies to educate & empower young citizens for weight self-management; d) coordinating authorities & policymakers to develop cross-sectoral solutions for health promotion & under-age obesity prevention.

Overview: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in men and second most common in women, accounting for 10% of all tumors worldwide, whereas it is the second most common cause of death-related cancers. DIOPTRA aims to introduce a front-line screening tool that will consider risk factors and protein biomarkers for pinpointing individuals at high risk for CRC incidence. Tissue & blood samples will be examined towards a discriminative set of prognostic proteins that are detectable via standard bloodwork and can indicate a need for further evaluation (i.e. colonoscopy). Other data (e.g. medical, behavioural) will also be considered as potential risk factors. Artificial intelligence (AI) will be leveraged for assessing prognostic power, while personalised behavioural change will be promoted based on modifiable risk factors. Given the low citizen participation in CRC screening across the European Union, DIOPTRA seeks to broaden the evaluated population, boosting participation rates and bypassing age screening thresholds.

The EU-funded Green.Dat.AI project will develop innovative energy-efficient large-scale data analytics services, ready to use in industrial AI-based systems, which will reduce the environmental impact of data management processes. The project will demonstrate the efficiencies of the new analytics services in the smart energy, smart agriculture/agri-food, smart mobility, and smart banking industries as well as six different application scenarios, exploiting the use of European data spaces.

HORSE proposes a novel human-centric, open source, green, sustainable, coordinated provisioning and protection evolutionary platform, which can inclusively yet seamlessly combine advancements in several domains, as they get added to the system (e.g., predictive threats detection, proactive business-wise threats, and breaches mitigation actions, programmable networking, semantic communications, Network Function Virtualisation (NFV), intent-based networking, AI-based techniques, cross-layer management of physical layer features, etc.).

SecOPERA stands for Secure OPen source softwarE and hardwaRe Adaptable framework. SecOPERA aims to provide a one-stop hub for complex OSS/OSH (Open-Source Software/Open-Source Hardware) solutions delivering to a connected device designer, implementer and operator as well as any open-source software/hardware developer, the means to analyse, assess, secure/harden and share open-source solutions as those are integrated in an overall complex product developed for a networked connected environment. SecOPERA achieves its tasks by taking any complex OSS/OSH solution and decomposing it into four distinct layers: cognitive, network, application, and device layers. The SecOPERA framework then makes use of state-of-the-art security testing tools and other specialized tools designed for operations such as code debloating, updating/patching on each layer, providing better and more accurate results. The SecOPERA hub offers to the open-source community a framework supporting the open-source DevSecOps lifecycle and generates secure open-source solutions along with an appropriate, verifiable security guarantee.

ΝΕΜΟ establishes itself as the gamechanger of the AIoT-edge-cloud continuum by introducing an open source, modular, and cybersecure meta-operating system, leveraging on existing technologies, and introducing novel concepts, methods, tools, testing and engagement campaigns. NEMO will bring intelligence closer to the data and make AI-as-a-Service an integral part of network self-organisation and micro-services execution orchestration. Its widespread penetration and massive acceptance will be achieved via new technology, pre-commercial exploitation components and liaison with open-source communities.

Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) produced by man-made devices are all around us. Especially with the next generation of radiofrequency EMFs, further investigations regarding EMF and possible health risks are required. In this context, the EU-funded NextGEM project will generate relevant knowledge of EMF exposure in residential, public and occupational settings. The project will design a new framework for the generation of health-relevant scientific knowledge and data on new scenarios of exposure to EMF in multiple frequency bands. Its overall aim is to provide a healthy living and working environment, under safe EMF exposure conditions.

Overview: PHOENI2X aims to design, develop, and deliver a Cyber Resilience Framework providing Artificial Intelligence (AI) – assisted orchestration, automation & response capabilities for business continuity and recovery, incident response, and information exchange, tailored to the needs of Operators of Essential Services (OES) and of the EU Member State (MS) National Authorities entrusted with cybersecurity. SPHYNX Analytics is the Technical Coordinator of PHOENI2X.

Overview: Heart failure (HF) is one of the chronic diseases that medicine struggles to effectively prevent, diagnose and treat. Yet, it remains the leading global cause of disability and premature death. A significant reduction of hospitalisations is a crucial step for the maintenance of patients’ life quality as well as for its burdening impact on the entire healthcare system’s efficiency. The EU-funded RETENTION project aims to develop an innovative platform supporting clinical decision-making and evidenced-based personalised interventions for HF patients. Through an automatised collection and analysis of patient data, the innovative solution will focus on reducing patients’ mortality and enhancing their quality of life.