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UBITECH undertakes the technical management of the SPIDER Innovation Action on 5G cyber range

UBITECH is participating at the kick-off meeting, in Genova, Italy (July 23-24, 2019), of the SPIDER Innovation Action, officially started on July 1st, 2019. The project is funded by European Commission under Horizon 2020 Programme (Grant Agreement No. 833685) and spans on the period July 2019 – June 2022. The SPIDER project intends to deliver an innovative Cyber Range as a Service (CRaaS) platform that extends and combines the capabilities of existing telecommunication testbeds and cyber ranges with the most recent advances in telecommunications management and emulation, gamification and serious games training as well as economics of cybersecurity, and uniquely virtualises them to become available as a single and easily accessible solution. The proposed SPIDER cyber range platform rests on three major pillars: (1) cybersecurity testing and assessment, with emphasis on new security technologies; (2) cybersecurity training in defending against advanced cyber-attacks; and (3) cybersecurity investment decision support.

In particular, the vision of SPIDER is to deliver a next-generation, extensive, and replicable cyber range platform for the telecommunications domain and its fifth generation (5G), offering cybersecurity emulation, training and investment decision support. Towards this vision, it features integrated tools for cyber testing including advanced emulation tools, novel training methods based on active learning as well as econometric models based on real-time emulation of modern cyber-attacks. SPIDER supports both self-paced and team-based exercising and acts as a serious gaming repository for multiple stakeholders to share training material and maximise efficiency in delivering complex cyber exercises.

As a matter of fact, SPIDER’s cyber range is a highly customisable dynamic network modelling instrument that enables real-life virtualisation as well as real-time emulation of networks and systems. The strength of the platform is that it allows not only for testing large-scale telecommunication infrastructures, but also testing their users, such as IoT or multisite SCADA industrial control systems (ICS). It also offers real-time interaction and information sharing capabilities as well as development and adjustment of force-on-force cyber games and exercises assisting the next-generation telecommunication cybersecurity professionals to collaboratively improve their ability in handling and forecasting security incidents, complex attacks and propagated vulnerabilities.

Within SPIDER, UBITECH undertakes the overall technical management of all project’s activities towards the development and deployment of a cutting edge cyber range platform for instructing and certifying cybersecurity professionals in resisting and dealing with modern cybersecurity incidents, as well as the establishment of a realistic cybersecurity training infrastructure and brokerage facility for cybersecurity situation awareness, hands-on exercise experience as well as for skills development in key cyber defence areas, through the provision of a virtual cyber environment that imitates reality for the quantitative, qualitative and realistic assessment of potentially ground-breaking cyber defence technologies and for experimentation with complex cyber-attacks in a contained environment.

Finally, UBITECH will develop the 5G Threat Knowledge Base, including the Cybersecurity Incident Repository, wherein data collected from the set of trials realised within SPIDER are going to be made available, while access is going also to be provided to set of documentation and training material. The Cybersecurity Incident Repository is going to be the main repository collecting data with regards to cybersecurity incidents identified in the set of scenarios considered in SPIDER. Interconnection with online threats and vulnerabilities repositories is going to be supported based on the design and development of specific interfaces.