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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.

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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.

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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.

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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:

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Greek companies have the weakest cybersecurity

Greek businesses have emerged as the weakest link in the European Union when it comes to cybersecurity, ranking last in terms of protective measures against cyberattacks. Just days after Kaspersky released data showing that Greece tops the list as the most dangerous online environment globally, Eurostat figures paint a grim picture of corporate cyber-readiness, placing Greek companies extremely low in the rankings.

According to the latest Eurostat data, while the majority of companies in the EU have implemented cybersecurity measures, disparities among member-states remain significant. Greek companies stand out negatively, being labeled as the weakest of Europe in terms of implementing cybersecurity protections.

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Cyberattack at Hellenic Open University (HOU): 813GB of personal data leaked

The Hellenic Open University clarifies that this size represents an extremely small percentage, compared to the total volume of data that they maintain, and emphasizes that the investigation continues.

The HOU in Greece, has provided clarifications regarding the cyberattack it suffered last October, noting that the investigation on this incident is still ongoing. The cyberattack, which took place on October 25th, resulted in the HOU’s electronic systems being put out of operation.

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What can cybersecurity learn from true crime?

Even if you’re not a fan of true crime documentaries or podcasts, you’re probably familiar with some of the well-known serial killers from USA in the 1980s. Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and the Golden State Killer to name a few.

Now what does this have to do with cybersecurity and CS-AWARE-NEXT? I promise there is a connection other than justifying my consumption of true crime podcasts during office hours!

Watching true crime documentaries, where the serial killer is caught much too late because they committed their crimes in different states or counties and the police stations didn’t share information across borders. In their defence, at the time, the technology wasn’t developed to do so.

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Cybersecurity & the Domino effect

A cyberattack is rarely caused by one big thing, but more often a combination of many little things. We see it all the time in disaster documentary film, how even the tiniest little detail can start a chain reaction with devastating results. A chain reaction that could have been stopped if even just one of the Dominos in the line were missing.

Take documentary film about plane crashes for example. We know flying is safe, we know how high the security priority is. In the events of a crash, we hear of all the frustratedly many small errors and we are left wondering how so many things have been overlooked.

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Beyond 2025

OTS Company, as a partner of the CS-AWARE-NEXT, represented the project at the international digital technology and innovation exhibition “Beyond”, which took place from 4 to 6 of April 2025 in Athens, Greece.

Beyond fosters the development of innovative technologies and business opportunities, while it aims at creating a hub that promotes collaboration and encourages the exchange of knowledge and ideas. It is a great opportunity for global innovators, researchers, and start-ups to connect. This year, the title of the exhibition was “AI Reality Bites” and focused on artificial intelligence and all the factors that come along as it integrates society. Cybersecurity was also a key theme: there were experts who demonstrated live, discussed in panels and showcased in workshops the importance of it and how a user or an organization can be safer online.

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Cybersecurity in Italian Municipalities: A Growing Emergency

In recent years, the digitalization of Public Administration has increasingly exposed the cybersecurity vulnerabilities of Italian municipalities. Hacker attacks are multiplying, targeting public offices and essential services, while institutions struggle to respond with new regulations and protective measures. However, the problems persist, and municipalities often find themselves unprepared in the face of increasingly sophisticated threats.

Rising Concern Over Cybersecurity in Municipalities

According to data from the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN), in 2024 about 18% of cyberattacks targeted Public Administration, particularly affecting local authorities and healthcare centers. This alarming trend prompted the government to respond with legislative measures and security strategies.

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