Project blog

Grant Agreement for the Security Operations Center (SOC)

A Grant Agreement for the Security Operations Center (SOC) for the enhancement of cyber security in Greece.

A Grant Agreement has been signed between the ministry of digital governance and the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) who will fund the development and operation of the “SOC–Security Operations Center”.

The Grant Agreement is in the frame of the funding programme “DEP” and the budget of the project reaches 9.7 million euros, out of which 50% is a European funding and the other 50% will be covered by national resources.

Continue reading

New cybersecurity related legislation in Finland

The Act on the Protection of Infrastructure Critical to Society and on the Improvement of Resilience took effect on 1 July 2025 in Finland. The new legislation imposes requirements on all entities providing services critical to society according to an EU directive. The legislation aims to reinforce national security and societal resilience amid the evolving security threat landscape in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Finnish Ministry of the Interior will cooperate with other ministries to identify essential entities in Finland and at the same time renew the national security assessment according to the new legislation. The industried deemed essential include: infrastructure, health, drinking water, wastewater management, digital infrastructure, public administration, space, and the food industry including processing and distribution.

Continue reading

Communication Strategies in Cybersecurity

While many things in Cybersecurity may seem self-evident (need for good passwords, increased vigilance when handling emails, etc.), the site https:// Theconversation.com/ featured an interesting article on unintended effects of certain types of communication. In particular, it underscored the need to understand not just the technical needs of your audience but also the socio-economic aspects of the audience.

When conducting cybersecurity campaigns, we find that efforts at communication sometimes backfire and cause the opposite of the desired effect. Several consequences can arise:

Continue reading

Need for cultural change regarding cybersecurity

Roger A. Grimes (KnowBe4’s Data-Driven Defense Evangelist) wrote an excellent Comprehensive Anti-Phishing Guide to help IT personnel combat increasing threats from phishing.

Among the important points Roger Grimes made were:

Training: We have to accept that there will always be to some degree phishing and social engineering activity that will bypass even the best or our defenses. Consequently, it is important to train employees how to recognize phishing and social engineering activity and how to manage them. Social engineering and phishing have long been thought to be the principal cause for many malicious data breaches. Fostering good security awareness training is indispensable to building a human firewall.

Continue reading

Click fix: a new weapon in cyber attacks

A new and particularly dangerous technique, called ClickFix, is at the center of ESET’s latest Threat Report for the first half of 2025. Its activity increased by 500%, now ranking second among the most widespread cyberattack vectors, second only to phishing. ClickFix operates in a deceptive way, displaying fake errors that prompt victims to execute malicious commands on their devices. Alarmingly, it targets all major operating systems — Windows, Linux, and macOS — and is used to spread ransomware, infostealers, trojans, and even state-sponsored malware.

Continue reading

Cybersecurity in Greece: What changes with the Joint Ministerial Decision (JMD) 1689/2025.

The JMD 1689/2025 introduces some important obligations for Greek businesses and public entities in the cyber security field, by setting a new national frame for the protection of the digital infrastructures.

The outline

The new frame, that is relying on the 5160/2024 law, addresses some “basic” and “important” entities and includes technical, organisational and administrative actions for the managing of cyber threats. The “basic” entities are included in strictrer demands but every single one is obliged to comply.

Continue reading

Threats and challenges in Greece - Check Point Software – Cybersecurity 2025

As Greece continues to digitize its public and private sectors, cybersecurity has become a national priority. Recent high-profile cyberattacks on government services and critical infrastructure have underscored the country’s vulnerability to emerging digital threats. With growing investment in AI, cloud technologies, and smart city initiatives, Greece faces the same global challenges—AI-enabled attacks, cloud misconfigurations etc—but often with fewer resources and cybersecurity professionals compared to larger nations. In this evolving threat landscape, staying ahead requires not only adopting global best practices but also preparing for the specific vulnerabilities that come with Greece’s digital transformation. Added to the aforementioned, is the challenge of the lack of digital literacy, which makes the progress in this field even slower.

Continue reading

Inside CS-CONNECT: The open-source technology powering cybersecurity collaboration

At the core of CS-CONNECT stands a clear technical vision: to enable seamless, data-driven collaboration via a customisable, sustainable platform.

To this end, the CS-CONNECT team selected Mattermost, an open-source collaboration platform renowned for its extensibility, as the foundation. Mattermost’s robust plugin system and active developer community make it ideal for building custom features to meet the unique requirements of cybersecurity collaboration.

One of CS-CONNECT’s key innovations is the HOOD (Hyperlinked Object-Oriented Discussion) methodology. This approach enables users to link specific data points (e.g. a field in a policy or an event in a timeline) directly within chat messages. It’s like being able to ‘point’ at data during a digital conversation, helping teams to maintain context and clarity, even in complex discussions.

Continue reading

What is CS-CONNECT? A new approach to cybersecurity collaboration

In a world where cyber threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated and interconnected, collaboration between organisations and regions is essential. That’s where CS-CONNECT comes in.

Developed as part of the CS-AWARE NEXT project and funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, CS-CONNECT is an innovative platform. Its main goal is to support local and regional cybersecurity collaboration by offering a dynamic environment in which organisations can share and review information, co- create security policies and respond quickly to cybersecurity incidents.

Continue reading

Digital Transformation in Italian Local Authorities: Progress Made, but Cybersecurity Lags Behind

In recent years, Italy’s local governments have taken significant steps toward digital transformation. Fuelled by national reforms and EU recovery funds, more and more municipalities are bringing services online. Yet as digital adoption accelerates, a critical vulnerability has emerged: cybersecurity.

A More Digital Italy—Even at the Local Level?

Digital innovation is no longer the exclusive domain of central ministries or major cities. Local governments across Italy are embracing new technologies at an unprecedented pace. The data speaks for itself:

Continue reading