Despite the importance of Critical Information Infrastructures (CIIs) and dynamic ICT-based maritime supply chains (SCs) for port operations, state-of-the-art Risk Management (RM) methodologies for maritime environments pay limited attention to cyber-security and do not adequately address security processes for international SCs. Motivated by these limitations, MITIGATE will introduce, integrate, validate and commercialize a novel RM system, which will empower stakeholders’ collaboration for the identification, assessment and mitigation of risks associated with cyber-security assets and SC processes. This collaborative system will boost transparency in risk handling, while enabling the generation of unique evidence about risk assessment and mitigation. At the heart of the RM system will be an open simulation environment enabling stakeholders to simulate risks and evaluate risk mitigation actions. This environment will allow users to model, design, execute and analyze attack-oriented simulations. Emphasis will be paid on the estimation of cascading effects in SCs, as well as on the prediction of future risks. MITIGATE will be compliant with prominent security standards and regulations for the maritime sector (i.e. ISO27000, ISO28000, ISPS). The MITIGATE system will be built based on readily available technologies of the partners, which will enable the project to produce a mature (high-TRL) system at an optimal value-for-money. The system will be validated based on real-life pilot operations across five EU ports (Bremen, Piraeus, Valencia, Ravenna, Livorno) with the active participation of over 500 users (security officers, terminal operators, facility operators, standardization experts and more). Also, the project’s approach will be contributed as a blueprint to the NIS public-private platform. Finally, significant effort will be devoted to the commercialization of the MITIGATE system based on pragmatic business plans and market launch actions.

Nowadays coordinated and every time more complex terrorist attacks are shocking the world. Due to the progressive rely of industrial sector and many critical infrastructures (CI) (e.g. EU ports) in ICT systems, the impact of a coordinated physical attack, a deliberate disruption of critical automation systems or even a combined scenario including both kind of attacks, could have disastrous consequences for the European Member States’ regions and social wellbeing in general. Taking into account this fact and this real threat on EU ports as one of the main CI in Europe, SAURON project proposes the holistic situation awareness concept as an integrated, scalable and yet installation-specific solution for protecting EU ports and its surroundings. This solution combines the more advanced physical SA features with the newest techniques in prevention, detection and mitigation of cyber-threats, including the synthetic cyber space understanding through the use of new visualization techniques (immersive interfaces, cyber 3D models and so on). In addition, a Hybrid Situation Awareness (HSA) application capable of determine the potential consequences of any threat will show the potential cascading effect of a detected threat in the two different domains (physical and cyber). On the other hand, through SAURON approach the public in the surroundings and the rescue/security teams will be able to be informed on any potential event/situation that could put in risk their integrity. Thus, SAURON proposes as main objective to ensure an adequate level of both physical and cyber protection for the EU ports and limiting, as far as possible, the detrimental effects for the society and citizens of a combined attack (physical & cyber) to an EU port. Reducing the vulnerabilities of EU ports, as one of the main European critical infrastructures and increasing their systemic resilience in the face of a physical, cyber or combined threat will be also part of the SAURON main objective.

The aim of AUGGMED is to develop a serious game platform to enable single- and team-based training of end-users with different level of expertise from different organisations responding to terrorist and organised crime threats. The platform will automatically generate non-linear scenarios tailored to suit the needs of individual trainees with learning outcomes that will improve the acquisition of emotional management, analytical thinking, problem solving and decision making skills. The game scenarios will include advanced simulations of operational environments, agents, telecommunications and threats, and will be delivered through VR and MR environments with multimodal interfaces. This will result in highly realistic training scenarios allowing advanced interactivity while encouraging security staff and first responders to engage and actively participate in the training process. In addition, the AUGGMED platform will include tools for trainers enabling them to set learning objectives, define scenarios, monitor training sessions, modify scenarios and provide feedback in real-time, as well as evaluate trainee performance and set training curricula for individual personnel in the post-training session phase. Finally, the platform will be offered in affordable and cost-effective Modes including Basic Mode (low VR fidelity and interactivity through mobile devices), Intermediate Mode (immersive multimodal VR) and Full Mode (immersive multimodal MR On-Site).

Ports are a great example of heterogeneous information hubs. Multiple stakeholders operate inside and outside them with different motivations and businesses. Although document and data interchange is already in place through Port Community Systems (PCS), the interchange is limited to official documentation and services of the Port Authority, such as custom declarations, import/export of cargo, and other formal documents. However, an effective integration of operational data is far from optimal in most ports, and especially so in medium or small ports, where budget is limited and IT services usually is outsourced. In contrast, the available operational data (resources tracking, container status, vessel operations, surface or berth available, air/water quality measurements,...) is constantly increasing and technology is getting inexpensive and widely available. However, the application of such systems is still single-entity centric, since the information is not shared, keeping the real potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0 hidden. The same holds for geographic areas surrounding ports, where Smart Cities integrate various data systems and provide valuable services to citizens and authorities. PIXEL will enable a two-way collaboration of ports, multimodal transport agents and cities for optimal use of internal and external resources, sustainable economic growth and environmental impact mitigation, towards the Ports of the Future. PIXEL will leverage technological enablers to voluntary exchange data among ports and stakeholders, thus ensuring a measurable benefit in this process. The main outcome of this technology will be efficient use of resources in ports, sustainable development and green growth of ports and surrounding cities/regions. Built on top of the state-of-the art interoperability technologies, PIXEL will centralise data from the different information silos where internal and external stakeholders store their operational information.

The D4FLY project will augment the current caThe D4FLY project will augment the current capabilities and capacities of border authorities in countering emerging threats in document and identity verification (e.g., forged documents, impostor fraud, morphed faces) at manual and highly automated border control points and in the issuance process of genuine documents. The confluence of D4FLY set of tools and systems will improve the quality of verification and reduce major time sinks in the processes thus enabling real on-the-move border crossing experience for travelers. Novel sensor hardware based on advanced lightfield cameras and novel algorithms developed in the project will enhance verification accuracy and robustness via the combined usage of 2D+thermal face, 3D face, iris and somatotype biometrics. Analytical means to identify known criminals based on somatotype and 3D face data generated from mugshots and observation data will be developed. Various operational needs of end-users with different threat landscapes constitute the backbone of D4FLY development efforts. D4FLY will create a resilient document verification system that can verify a multitude of physical and electronic security features (e.g. Kinegrams®, MLIs, CLIs), detect complex forms of electronic fraud and advanced morphing, and identify fraud in breeder documents. The potential benefit of blockchain technology in identity verification will also be investigated. The D4FLY solution will consist of a border control kiosk geared with enhanced enrolment, verification and detection capabilities; smartphones applications for improved performance and verification capabilities; and a non-stop on-the-move system for biometric verification. The innovation will be validated against European societal values, fundamental rights, privacy, data protection and applicable legislation. Four different border control points and one document fraud expertise center will form the project’s testing and demonstration ground.