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Call key data
Capacity building of Security Operation Centres
Funding Program
Digital Europe
Call number
DIGITAL-ECCC-2022-CYBER-03-SOC
deadlines
Opening
15.11.2022
Deadline
15.02.2023 17:00
Funding rate
50 %
Call budget
€ 72,500,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
Project budget (maximum grant amount): between € 1,000,000.00 and € 10,000,000.00 per project
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
The objective will be to create, support and/or strengthen and interconnect SOCs at regional, national and EU level. This will allow for reinforced capacities to monitor and detect cyber threats, the creation of collective knowledge and sharing of best practices. In addition, data and capacities related to cybersecurity threat intelligence will be brought together from multiple sources (such as CSIRTs and other relevant cybersecurity actors) through cross-border platforms across the EU. The use of state-of-the-art AI, machine learning capabilities and common infrastructures will make it possible to more efficiently and more rapidly share and correlate the signals detected, and to create high-quality threat intelligence for national authorities and other stakeholders, thus enabling a fuller situational awareness and a more rapid reaction.
Call objectives
The aim is to improve cybersecurity resilience with faster detection and response to cybersecurity incidents and threats at national and EU level through the establishment of SOCs, leveraging disruptive technologies, and sharing of information leading to increased situational awareness and stronger EU supply chains. Specifically:
- Supporting existing SOCs or establishing national, regional or sectoral SOCs serving private (SMEs in particular) and/or public organisations with real-time monitoring and analysis of data from public internet network traffic to detect malicious activities and incidents that affect the resilience of network and information systems;
- Strengthening SOCs by leveraging state of the art Artificial Intelligence (including Machine Learning techniques) and computing power to improve the detection of malicious activities, and dynamically learning about the changing threat landscape;
- Supporting information sharing among public authorities (including competent authorities and CSIRTs under the NIS Directive), as well as with other SOCs (e.g. operated by private entities), facilitated through appropriate sharing agreements, while complying with all obligations related to privacy and personal data protection;
- Developing and deploying appropriate tools, platforms and infrastructures to securely share and analyse large data sets among SOCs. Where possible and appropriate, existing building blocks will be re-used, including the results of relevant Connecting Europe Facility and Horizon 2020 projects;
- Supporting the increased availability, quality, usability and interoperability of threat intelligence data among SOCs and relevant entities;
- Identify potential critical dependencies on foreign suppliers and solutions in the area of threat intelligence and develop an EU supply chain on threat intelligence;
- Provide Member States bodies with threat intelligence and situational awareness capabilities helping to anticipate and respond to cyber-attacks, notably in the framework of the Blueprint/CyCLONe and the Joint Cybersecurity Unit;
- Bridge cooperation between various cybersecurity communities, e.g. civilian cybersecurity resilience, law enforcement, defence, taking into account cooperation frameworks such as the Blueprint/CyCLONe and the Joint Cybersecurity Unit.
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Expected effects and impacts
- Grants will be made available to enable capacity building, e.g. through the establishment or reinforcing of SOCs serving private or public organisations, leveraging state of the art technology such as artificial intelligence and dynamic learning of the threat landscape
- A call for expression of interest will be launched to select entities in Member States that provide the necessary facilities to host and operate cross-border platforms for pooling data on cybersecurity threat between several Member States (data potentially coming from various sources). The call for expression of interest will also build up the planning and design of necessary tools and infrastructures.
- Building on the call for expression of interest, a joint procurement will be launched to develop and operate capacities for the selected cross-border platforms, including advanced tools and infrastructures to securely share and analyse large data sets and threat intelligence among the selected cross-border platforms (e.g. highly-secure infrastructure or advanced data analytics aimed at significantly improving the ability to analyse large sets of data).
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Expected results
- Several cross-border platform(s) for pooling data on cybersecurity threat between several Member States, equipped with a highly secure infrastructures and advanced data analytics tools;
- World-class SOCs across the Union, strengthened with state of the art technology in areas such as AI;
- Sharing of Threat Intelligence between SOCs, and information sharing agreements with competent authorities and CSIRTs;
- Threat intelligence and situational awareness capabilities supporting strengthened collaboration in the framework of the Blueprint/CyCLONe and the Joint Cybersecurity Unit, as well as with law enforcement and defence.
Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Iceland (Ísland), Liechtenstein, Norway (Norge)
eligible entities
Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnership
No
other eligibility criteria
In order to be eligible, the entities must be:
- be legal entities (public or private bodies)
- be established in one of the eligible countries (i.e.: EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories) or EWR-Staaten (Norwegen, Island, Liechtenstein))
Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of self-employed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legal personality separate from that of the natural person.
International organisations are not eligible, unless they are International organisations of European Interest within the meaning of Article 2 of the Digital Europe Regulation (i.e. international organisations the majority of whose members are Member States or whose headquarters are in a Member State).
Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offerguarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.
EU bodies — EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.
Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. Please note that if the action will be implemented by the members, they should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible).
Additional information
Topics
Relevance for EU Macro-Region
EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
project duration
36 months
Additional Information
Proposal page limits and layout:
The application form will have two parts:
- Part A to be filled in directly online (administrative information, summarised budget, call-specific questions, etc.)
- Part B to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system (contains the technical description of the project);
mandatory annexes and supporting documents:
- ownership control declaration
Page limit (part B): 70 pages
Call documents
Call Document DIGITAL-ECCC-2022-CYBER-03Call Document DIGITAL-ECCC-2022-CYBER-03(730kB)
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