We are living in the era of digitalization where digital applications across all business sectors are increasing. Unfortunately, cyber-attacks are alarmingly on the rise as well, which sets new challenges for the management of secure internal and external data flows.
These are but some of the challenges that SOTER, the newly launched EU funded project, will address over the next two years.
2017 saw a massive ransomware cyber-attack that affected nearly 100 countries and important companies from different sectors like health services, finance, transport, and energy. According to the Directive on Security of Network Information Systems (NIS), these sectors are critical in terms of cybersecurity and should therefore have in place robust measures against cyber-attacks.
SOTER will take a holistic research approach, combining technological development with human factor-based cybersecurity training.
Trilateral Research joins technologists and researchers from eight organisations across Europe which will collaborate to create a comprehensive toolset, designed to transform critical aspects of cybersecurity within the finance industry.
The human factor
The human factor plays a key role in cyber attacks. A survey conducted by the Spanish National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE) showed that at least 10% of survey respondents said they have the same user/password for different applications and most survey respondents prefer to have “weak” passwords so they won’t forget them.
SOTER will develop a biometric-based authentication and identification digital onboarding platform in conjunction with a suite of training materials, designed to enhance information security, data privacy, and cybersecurity practice within the critical financial services sector.
“New tools, awareness and training for employees are needed due to the increased dependence on digital applications and the rise in cyber attacks”, said the SOTER project coordinator Paul Tailor Carbajal Silva, “SOTER will complement the technological development with a specific methodology for training and raising awareness of finance sector employees about the importance of their daily work against cyber-attacks.”
Trilateral Research’s main work within SOTER will focus on mapping and understanding human factors in effective cyber-security and conducting an integrated data protection and ethical impact assessment of SOTER technologies to ensure that the developed tools meet requirements around responsible research practice as well as EU legal and ethical principles, including privacy.
The SOTER kick-off meeting took place in Madrid, Spain, on 9-10 July 2019. During the two-day event, the partners met, shared information about their organisations, and discussed the SOTER work plan over the next two years.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 833923
For more information about SOTER visit the project website and feel free to contact our team:
