Overview
The evolving geopolitical landscape has intensified cyberwarfare, hacktivism, and the sophistication of cyber threats across Europe. Ransomware, Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, AI-enabled disinformation, and zero-day exploits now pose major risks, particularly to sectors such as finance, manufacturing, and healthcare. SMEs, which form the backbone of the EU economy, are disproportionately vulnerable due to limited resources, low awareness, and lack of dedicated cybersecurity personnel. The COVID-19 pandemic further exposed cybersecurity weaknesses, when many SMEs shifted to online operations without prioritising protection. There is an urgent need for enhanced cyber resilience, employee awareness training, and integration of intelligent software, however many businesses still underestimate threats, with social engineering and phishing remaining highly effective.
NERO will address these gaps by establishing an advanced Cybersecurity Ecosystem for SMEs, designed to address the distinct aspects of awareness, training, and education in cybersecurity. It will educate individuals on effectively mitigating the impact of cyber threats, cultivating a culture of cybersecurity awareness and resilience among organisations and individuals. It will offer a Cyber Immunity Toolkit Repository, a Cyber Resilience Program, and Cyber Awareness Training, delivered through a gamified approach and accessed through a user-friendly Marketplace. Its effectiveness and performance will be validated through three use cases across different domains.
Objectives
Demonstrate the benefits of NERO through 3 use cases applying the 2-phases iteration approach in healthcare, finance, transportation and logistics sectors.
Support the experts’ communication by sharing knowledge and advanced training materials utilising EU tools that follow security-by-design and privacy-by-design approaches.
Improve the security of ICT solutions by leveraging bug bounty programmes and crowdsource vulnerability discovery and disclosure practices.
Improve the auditing resilience by offering to crowdsource security research and testing services.
Improve cyber security awareness through gamification-based training and advanced cyber ranges to boost cyber hygiene.
eBOS Role in the Project
In NERO, eBOS will undertake the key role of Technical Manager, overseeing the planning and execution of critical project activities. Beyond managing technical aspects, eBOS will also lead the design and architecture of the NERO ecosystem. Particular focus will be placed on ensuring seamless interoperability between all NERO components from the project’s outset. Additionally, eBOS will coordinate the integration, demonstration, and evaluation phases of the NERO use cases, with the primary goal of showcasing the project’s technologies and deriving valuable insights. To achieve this, eBOS will leverage its commercial suite, WiseBOS, and infrastructure, to validate, evaluate, and demonstrate NERO’s frameworks within a fintech organisation. This approach will ensure robust protection against cyber threats through the deployment of the CYBIT framework tools.
Co-Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
