Cybersecurity for industrial systems and smartgrids, european project Scissor

Context and challenges

The number of cyber attacks in industrial organisational systems is increasing. In order to protect these systems, the European “Scissor“ project has been launched, aimed at developing a portfolio of security solutions to protect industrial systems like SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) or Smart Grids against these new threats. The project was recently awarded funding by the European Union Horizon 2020 Program.

The method involves data from the system level and its environment, which is collected from probes, sensors and cameras, enabling to prerare behavioral analysis and identify weak signals, which could represent an attack. Alerts are then processed onto a SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) platform. Due to this SIEM supervision, intrusions can be detected and alerts published about the imminent arrival of an incident.

The client has selected the project which is coordinated by Assystem and built on a consortium of eight other European partners: AGH, University Pierre and Marie Curie, SIXSQ, CNIT, RADIO6ENSE, Salzburg Research, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and SEA.

Project scope

Project management
Implementation of a SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) platform to integrate and test Scissor solutions
Demonstration of how the Scissor components combine to provide a secure SCADA platform
Development and integration of systems based on identity based cryptography, identity management and access control, SCADA systems simulators, human-machine interface
Roll-out of the controlled trial
Design and development of a hybrid key management system (IBE) dedicated to the connected environment

Results

Development of innovative cybersecurity solutions for power, particularly the security of power distribution across Europe
Job creation in cybersecurity
Improvements of coordination between European countries, techniques and informations exchange
Successful collaboration between partner countries on a project with major challenges