TRESSPASS project – Kick-off meeting (press release)

PRESS RELEASE

EU border security: Zanasi & Partners participates in a new research project funded by the European Commission

MODENA, 25/06/2018 – In the face of an increasing number of travellers, migration flows and terrorist threats exert an unprecedented pressure on the European authorities in charge of border control activities. The TRESSPASS project, through which Europe aims to ease this scenario, started in Athens on the last June 8^th, run by a consortium that includes Zanasi & Partners, an Italian research and advisory company specialised in the fields of security and defence.

The aim of TRESSPASS, funded by the European Commission through the programme Horizon 2020, is to develop an innovative model for the EU border management based on the real-time risk assessment of travellers, with the goal of increasing the border security of Member States. The proposed approach is focused on the assessment of the risk posed by individual travellers by using dedicated risk indicators, whose value can be calculated through the use of technologies and processes developed by the partners of the project. Depending on the estimated risk level, it will be possible to adapt the intensity of the controls to which each traveller will be subject. This measure will enable authorities to maintain the desired security level and reduce the operational costs without undermining trust and satisfaction of travellers. Crucial to the implementation of this model will be the development and integration of enabling technologies – from web intelligence systems and behavioural analysis to identification and monitoring techniques for people and baggage – activities that will however occur within a rigid framework of ethical and legal nature.

Zanasi & Partners has be given the responsibility to interface with the stakeholders and define the indicators needed for performing the risk assessment. Thanks to the experience acquired in TRESSPASS, the company aims at enriching its offer in the field of border control, which is already composed of services such as:

• Protection of rail, port and airport infrastructures from electromagnetic attacks, as well as from cyber, nuclear and radioactive threats;
• Contrast to the illegal trade of hazardous waste;
• Improvement of the border patrol performance by relying on the human factor;
• Training of border patrol to the use of Open Source Intelligence techniques (OSINT).

Active in Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Zanasi & Partners has also a broad expertise in big data analytics, cyber-security/cyber-defence, social media monitoring, risk assessment and strategic use of technologies.

The TRESSPASS project, which will last 42 months and have an overall budget of around 8 million euro, is coordinated by the National Centre of Scientific Research “Demokritos”, an important Greek multidisciplinary research centre. Amongst the other members of the consortium, composed of 22 organisations from 10 different European countries, there are multinational and small specialised companies, as well as universities and research institutes, port and airport operators and border authorities of EU Member States.

TRESSPASS project

For further information on the TRESSPASS project: https://www.iit.demokritos.gr/project/tresspass

Zanasi & Partners

Zanasi & Partners (Z&P) is a research and advisory company in the field of security and defence based in Modena. Its expertise includes big data analytics, cyber-security/cyber-defence, social media monitoring, threat, vulnerability and risk assessment. Among its clients, Z&P counts European Commission, ESA, ENISA, FRONTEX, CIRA, Siemens, GEDI Gruppo Editoriale, Booz&Co, as well as several ministries and government agencies falling under European countries and the MENA region.   

For further information on Z&P: https://www.zanasi-alessandro.eu

COMUNICATO STAMPA

Sicurezza delle frontiere UE: Zanasi & Partners partecipa a nuovo progetto di ricerca finanziato dalla Commissione Europea

MODENA, 25/06/2018 – Flussi migratori e minaccia terroristica, a fronte di un numero sempre maggiore di viaggiatori, esercitano una pressione senza precedenti sulle autorità adibite ai controlli di frontiera. Il progetto TRESSPASS, con cui l’Europa si propone di fronteggiare questo scenario, ha preso il via ad Atene lo scorso 8 giugno da un consorzio di cui fa parte Zanasi & Partners, società italiana di ricerca e consulenza in materia di sicurezza e difesa.

L’obiettivo di TRESSPASS, finanziato dalla Commissione Europea tramite il programma Horizon 2020, è quello di sviluppare un modello innovativo per la gestione dei confini UE, basato sulla valutazione del rischio, al fine di rendere più sicure le frontiere dei Stati Membri.

L’approccio proposto è incentrato sulla valutazione del rischio rappresentato dai singoli viaggiatori utilizzando appositi indicatori di rischio, il cui valore viene calcolato tramite il ricorso a tecnologie e processi sviluppati dai partner del progetto. A seconda del livello di rischio stimato, sarà possibile adattare l’intensità dei controlli a cui ciascun viaggiatore sarà sottoposto, affinché le autorità possano mantenere il livello di sicurezza desiderato e ridurre i propri costi operativi senza minare fiducia e soddisfazione dei viaggiatori. Fondamentale per la messa in pratica di tale modello sarà lo sviluppo e l’integrazione di tecnologie abilitanti – da sistemi di web intelligence e analisi comportamentale a tecniche di individuazione e monitoraggio di persone e bagagli – attività che avverranno tuttavia entro un rigida cornice di carattere etico e legale.

A Zanasi & Partners è affidata la responsabilità di interfacciarsi con gli stakeholder e di definire gli indicatori necessari alla valutazione del rischio. Grazie all’esperienza acquisita in TRESSPASS, l’azienda punta ad arricchire la propria offerta in ambito di “border control”, già composta da servizi quali:

• Protezione di infrastrutture ferroviarie, portuali e aeroportuali da attacchi elettromagnetici, minacce cyber e nucleari/radioattive;
• Contrasto al traffico illecito di rifiuti pericolosi;
• Miglioramento delle performance delle guardie di frontiera facendo leva sul fattore umano;
• Addestramento delle guardie di frontiera all’utilizzo di tecniche di Open Source Intelligence (OSINT).

Attiva in Europa, Medio Oriente e Nord Africa, Zanasi & Partners vanta competenze anche in materia di big data analytics, cyber-security/cyber-defence, social media monitoring, risk assessment ed uso strategico delle tecnologie.

A guidare il progetto TRESSPASS, che avrà una durata di 42 mesi e beneficerà di un budget complessivo di circa 8 milioni, è il National Centre of Scientific Research “Demokritos”, centro di ricerca multidisciplinare greco. Tra gli altri membri del consorzio, composto da 22 organizzazioni provenienti da 10 paesi europei, vi sono società multinazionali e piccole aziende specializzate, università e istituti di ricerca, operatori portuali ed aeroportuali e autorità di frontiera di Stati Membri dell’UE.

Progetto TRESSPASS

Per ulteriori informazioni sul progetto TRESSPASS: https://www.iit.demokritos.gr/project/tresspass

Zanasi & Partners

Zanasi & Partners (Z&P) è una società di ricerca e consulenza in materia di sicurezza e difesa di sede a Modena. Tra le proprie competenze: big data analytics, cyber-security/cyber-defence, social media monitoring, threat, vulnerability e risk assessment.

Z&P annovera tra i suoi clienti: Commissione Europea, ESA, ENISA, FRONTEX, CIRA, Siemens, GEDI Gruppo Editoriale, Booz&Co, oltre a diversi ministeri ed agenzie governative facenti capo a Paesi europei, mediorientali e nordafricani.

Per ulteriori informazioni su Z&P: https://www.zanasi-alessandro.eu

Workshop on “European Strategic Technology Foresight” (21st June 2018 – La Spezia, Italy)

Zanasi & Partners and Engineering Ingegneria Informatica, in collaboration with the Italian Defence General Secretariat – National Armaments Directorate, have organised a workshop dedicated to “European Strategic Technology Foresight”. The workshop will take place on the 21st of June 2018, at the Arsenale Militare Marittimo in La Spezia, Italy, and will be hosted within SeaFuture 2018, one of the most prestigious events – exhibition & business convention – in the naval, shipbuilding and maritime sector with the unique feature of dual use, both in the civil and military sectors.

Main Theme:

European Strategic Technology Foresight

Executive Summary:

The workshop will present the results of a survey carried out within the context of the PYTHIA project, funded Organized by the European Commission in the Preparatory Action on Defence Research framework, aimed at assessing what are the most commonly used technology foresight methodologies in both the military and the industrial domains. All the methodologies identified will be thoroughly analysed, extrapolating several interesting findings that will be described during the speech.

Agenda:

The event will represent an opportunity to showcase the PYTHIA project, funded by the European Defence Agency under the framework of the Preparatory Action for Defence Research (PADR) (grant agreement No. 800893).

FINSEC project – Kick-off meeting (press release)

PRESS RELEASE

Cybersecurity for the financial sector
The European Commission funds the international research project FINSEC

MODENA, 05/06/2018 – The FINSEC(Integrated Framework for Predictive and Collaborative Security of Financial Infrastructures) research project – funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme, and aimed at improving cybersecurity in the financial sector– has been officially launched in Brussels.

Banks and financial institutions have always been among the most attractive targets for malicious and criminal organisations.  The advent of the Internet further exacerbated this phenomenon, extending it to an ever-greater dimension, with 1.06 million of cyber-attacks detected in 2016 against the banking sector alone. The trend has further expanded in the last two years, which have seen a boom of cyber-attacks against the computer networks used by banks and financial institutions, as well as the SWIFT infrastructure, ATMs and POS.

As pointed out by Europol’s Director, Rob Wainwright, the increasing sophistication of cyber-attacks “can threatenthe survival of several critical infrastructures, namely those linked to the financial and banking sector”. This scenario – the collapse of the economic backbone of any European country– would have devastating consequences, preventing citizens and companies from having access to their current accounts or making electronic payments. An example of that was set in the last few days, when the failure occurred in the VISA electronic network impeded millions of transactions.

The FINSEC research project comes within this context, aiming at developing a framework security architectureto provide financial stakeholders with an integrated management (both physical and cyber) of security. Such architecture will enable a quick reaction to attacks, promoting at the same time the collaboration between different stakeholders in evaluating and mitigating the risk over the entire financial supply chain.

FINSEC, which is coordinated by GFT Italia, involves 22 organisations from 9 European countries, including leading actors in the IT (Atos, IBM, Fujitsu, HP), as well as in the banking and financial sectors (Liberbank, Istituto Centrale della Banche Popolari, SIA, HDI). Amongst the Italian members of the consortium, a key role is played by Zanasi & Partners, a SME based in Modena, that over the years has managed to carve out a leading role in the field of European security and defence research.

The FINSEC project, which has been funded with 8 million euro by the European Commission, also envisages a return for the involved organisations. One of the goals consists in fact in the development of amarketplace for security services, which is an IT platform to be used by the organisations who develop innovative cybersecurity solutions under the FINSEC project to sell them – in the form of services – to banking and financial organisations.

FINSEC project

For further information on the FINSEC project: http://info.finsec-project.eu

Zanasi & Partners

Zanasi & Partners (Z&P) is a research and advisory company in the field of security and defence based in Modena. Its expertise includes big data analytics, cyber-security/cyber-defence, social media monitoring, threat, vulnerability and risk assessment. Among its clients, Z&P counts European Commission, ESA, ENISA, FRONTEX, CIRA, Siemens, GEDI Gruppo Editoriale, Booz&Co, as well as several ministries and government agencies falling under European countries and the MENA region.   

For further information on Z&P: https://www.zanasi-alessandro.eu

COMUNICATO STAMPA

Cybersecurity per il settore finanziario
La Commissione Europea finanzia il progetto di ricerca internazionale FINSEC

MODENA, 05/06/2018 – Avviato a Bruxelles il progetto di ricerca FINSEC(Integrated Framework for Predictive and Collaborative Security of Financial Infrastructures), finanziato dalla Commissione Europea nell’ambito del programma Horizon 2020 e dedicato al tema della cybersecurity nel settore finanziario.

Banche ed istituzioni finanziarie costituiscono da sempre bersagli tra i più appetibili per singoli ed organizzazioni criminali. L’avvento di Internet ha ulteriormente esacerbato tale fenomeno, estendendolo ad una dimensione mai rilevata fino ad oggi, con 1.06 milioni di attacchi informatici rivolti al settore bancario nel solo 2016. Nell’ultimo biennio il trend si è confermato in espansione, con un vero e proprio boom di cyberattacchi contro le reti informatiche su cui poggiano gli istituti bancari e finanziari, contro l’infrastruttura SWIFT che gestisce le transazioni interbancarie, ATM (i tradizionali “sportelli Bancomat”) e POS (ovvero i terminali per i pagamenti via carte elettroniche).

Come sottolineato dal direttore di Europol, Rob Wainwright, l’aumento nel livello di sofisticazione dei cyberattacchi “è in grado di minacciare la sopravvivenza stessa di diverse infrastrutture critiche, sicuramente quelle dei settori finanziario e bancario”. Tale scenario, ilcollasso della backboneeconomica di un Paese europeo, renderebbe impossibile l’accesso ai conti correnti e l’utilizzo di strumenti di pagamento elettronico da parte di cittadini ed imprese, con conseguenze devastanti. Un piccolo esempio ci è stato fornito proprio nei giorni scorsi, con il malfunzionamento verificatosi nella rete telematica di VISA, che ha impedito milioni di transazioni.

Il progetto di ricerca FINSEC interviene in questo contesto, ponendosi l’obiettivo di sviluppare un’architettura di riferimento per la sicurezza, che ne permetta agli attori del mondo finanziario la gestione integrata (sia fisica che cyber). Tale architettura renderà possibile reagire tempestivamente agli attacchi, promuovendo al tempo stesso la collaborazione tra diversi stakeholder nel valutare e mitigare il rischio nell’ambito dell’intera financial supply chain.

FINSEC, coordinato da GFT Italia, vede la partecipazione di 22 organizzazioni provenienti da 9 Paesi europei, tra cui leader dell’informatica (Atos, IBM, Fujitsu, HP) e dei settori bancario e finanziario (Liberbank, Istituto Centrale della Banche Popolari, SIA, HDI). Tra i partner italiani che fanno parte del consorzioun ruolo chiave è ricoperto da Zanasi & Partners, PMI con sede a Modena, che negli anni si è affermata quale importante attore nel settore della ricerca europea in materia di sicurezza e difesa.

Il progetto FINSEC, che ha ricevuto un finanziamento di 8 milioni di euro dalla Commissione Europea, prevede anche un ritorno economico per le organizzazioni coinvolte. Uno degli obiettivi è infatti quello di sviluppare un marketplace per servizi di sicurezza, ovvero una piattaforma IT attraverso la quale leorganizzazioni che nell’ambito di FINSEC hanno sviluppato innovative soluzioni di cybersecurity potranno commercializzarle, sotto forma di servizi, alle organizzazioni del mondo bancario e finanziario interessate.

Progetto FINSEC

Per ulteriori informazioni sul progetto FINSEC: http://info.finsec-project.eu

Zanasi & Partners

Zanasi & Partners (Z&P) è una società di ricerca e consulenza in materia di sicurezza e difesa di sede a Modena. Tra le proprie competenze: big data analytics, cyber-security/cyber-defence, social media monitoring, threat, vulnerability e risk assessment.

Z&P annovera tra i suoi clienti: Commissione Europea, ESA, ENISA, FRONTEX, CIRA, Siemens, GEDI Gruppo Editoriale, Booz&Co, oltre a diversi ministeri ed agenzie governative facenti capo a Paesi europei, mediorientali e nordafricani.

Per ulteriori informazioni su Z&P: https://www.zanasi-alessandro.eu

The PYTHIA project kicks-off

The PYTHIA research project has officially kicked-off. The kick-off meeting was held on the 14th March 2018 at the headquarters of the European Defence Agency, with the presence of EDA’s Chief Executive Mr. Jorge Domecq.
 

Representatives from the organisations participating to the PYTHIA research project pose for a photographic session with EDA’s Chief Executive Mr. Jorge Domecq

The PYTHIA (Predictive methodologY for TecHnology Intelligence Analysis) research project, funded by the European Defence Agency within the context of the PADR programme (EU Preparatory Action for Defence Research) is dedicated to the theme of Strategic Technology Foresight. The project aims to support strategic technology foresight of individual Member States and of the EU as a whole in the defence domain by performing joint technology foresight activities supported by methodologies such as horizon scanning, technology watch, scientometric tools and expert consultations. It also focuses on identifying emerging defence research areas for potential exploration in the next Multi-annual Financial Framework.

Zanasi & Partners covers the role of scientific and technical coordinator of the whole project.

Zanasi & Partners @ SMI2G 2018

Zanasi & Partners has attended SMI2G 2018, the traditional meeting of the European security research community, which takes place yearly in Brussels. The 2018 edition – sponsored by EARTO, SEREN3 and EOS – was hosted by the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) and ran on the 1st and 2nd February.

During the event, Z&P’s Fabio RUINI presented three project ideas that Zanasi & Partners intends to further develop in the coming months, targeting the 2018 calls of the H2020 Secure Societies work programme (topics SU-BES02 sub-topic 1, SU-DRS01 and SU-DRS02 sub-topic 1).

SAFFRON Final Workshop (Brussels, 24th-25th January 2018)

VISEO, and the whole consortium behind the EC-funded SAFFRON project (Semantic Analysis against Foreign Fighters Recruitment Online Network), organise in Brussels a workshop titled “3 facets of radicalisation through the looking glass”.

The event is organised in collaboration with other EC-funded research projects: TRIVALENT (Terrorism pRevention Via rAdicaLisation countEr-NarraTives), PRACTICIES (Partnership against violent radicalization in the cities) and RISKTRACK (Tracking tool based on social media for risk assessment on radicalisation).

Zanasi & Partners will be represented at the event by Z&P’s president Alessandro ZANASI, who will take part to a round table discussion dedicated to “Radicalisation and Internet”. Participants to the round table include representatives from Romanian National Intelligence Academy (MVNIA), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pôle Universitaire Léonard de Vinci, Youth ID, and Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.

The agenda of the event can be found below:

Zanasi & Partners technical and scientific coordinator of the EDA-backed defence research project PYTHIA

The European Defence Agency has officially announced the signing of a Grant Agreement – worth nearly €1 million – for the Strategic Technology Foresight action to be carried out under the EU Preparatory Action in the field of defence research.

The Grant Agreement has been signed between EDA and the Italian-led consortium behind the project proposal PYTHIA (Predictive methodologY for TecHnology Intelligence Analysis).

The PYTHIA project, which will see Zanasi & Partners covering the role of technical and scientific coordinator, is expected to kick-off in February 2018 and will last for 18 months.

A grant agreement worth a total of €0.95 million was signed on 20 December 2017 for the Strategic Technology Foresight action to be carried out under the EU Preparatory Action in the field of defence research. The grant agreement was signed between the European Defence Agency (EDA) and the winning consortium led by Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A.

The Strategic Technology Foresight action was selected following an EU-wide call for proposals organised by the European Defence Agency between 7 June and 28 September 2017. The action aims to support strategic technology foresight of individual Member States and of the EU as a whole in the defence domain by performing joint technology foresight activities supported by methodologies such as horizon scanning, technology watch, scientometric tools and expert consultations. It focuses on identifying emerging defence research areas for potential exploration in the next Multi-annual Financial Framework.

The Strategic Technology Foresight activity is part of the Preparatory Action, aimed at assessing and demonstrating the added value of EU-supported defence research and technology (R&T). The relevant results are expected to further deepen European defence cooperation, address capability shortfalls, and strengthen European defence stakeholders.

The foundations for the Preparatory Action were laid in 2016 with the successful launch of a Pilot Project on Defence Research.

The signature marks an important step in EU defence integration and paves the way for the launch of a fully-fledged European Defence Research Programme (EDRP) as part of the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-2027).  The next step will be the signature of the grant agreements related to the Unmanned Systems and the Research in technology and products in the context of Force Protection and Soldier Systems calls for proposals, which are scheduled to take place in 2018.

All of them – Pilot Project, Preparatory Action and the future European Defence Research Programme – should support R&T serving capability priorities identified by Member States in the Capability Development Plan and be taken up in future collaborative capability programmes.

The challenges posed by cyber security and the answers from the European Union: the key role played by research

An article written by Zanasi & Partners’ CEO, Mr. Alessandro ZANASI, and dedicated to the cyber security research initiatives launched by the European Union in the latest years, has been published today on ICT Security Magazine.

Alessandro Zanasi provides a comprehensive overview of the main cyber security challenges that the European Union has been facing in the latest years and, at the same times, describes the most relevant research initiatives that have been launched for responding to those challenges. A particular emphasis is put on some of the most successful research projects backed by the European Commission and its Directorate General: SCADALAB, CloudCERT, SECRET, iSAR+ and SOTERIA. The article also introduces two new themes of sure interest for the future of European research: on the one hand the need for enhancing the cyber-security posture of the European financial sector; on the other hand – in the light of the future risk scenarios introduced by rapidly evolving modern technologies – the need for improving the strategic technology foresight capabilities of the defence sector.

The article can be found at this link. A PDF version can be downloaded from here.

TRIVALENT Notes – Issue no.1 (October/November 2017)

The TRIVALENT consortium is proud to announce the release of the first issue of “TRIVALENT Notes”, the official newsletter of the TRIVALENT (Terrorism Prevention via Radicalisation Counter-Narrative) project.

TRIVALENT Notes – Issue no. 1 (October/November 2017) can be downloaded from here.

BODEGA project – consortium meeting in Paris

Kindly hosted by CEA in its headquarters, representatives from all the European organisations part of the BODEGA consortium have met in Paris from the 27th to the 29th November 2017 in order to assess the work carried out so far and make plans for the future activities to be performed.

Zanasi & Partners was represented in Paris by Fabio RUINI, coordinator of Z&P’s research activities, and Alessandro BONZIO, Z&P’s project manager for BODEGA. Within the BODEGA project, Zanasi & Partners is currently involved in the development of an innovative solution – based on Big Data Analytics techniques – for the (early) risk assessment of incoming travellers at border crossing points. The meeting gave Z&P the opportunity to present the latest developments on this topic, as well as to get expert feedback from the end-users, most notably from representatives of Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli and the Finnish Border Guard Agency.