The project creates the theoretical underpinnings for a transnational and comprehensive situational awareness (SA) capability for coordinating national defense. We analyse the relevant governmental institutions through their statutes and the interviews with their employees. We describe both the as-is and to-be situations, generalizing the management structure and information flows of the institutions. We propose the system architecture and technical architecture for a SA information system. We analyse the cross-dependencies of vital services, place them into a suitable model and find how the degradation of one service affects others. We extend an existing simulation-based crisis decision support system with algorithms for describing these dependencies and estimate the probability of the realization of risks. We demonstrate that previous crisis scenarios can be derived from the description of services and their dependencies.

• Project period: 09/2018 - 03/2021
• Coordinator: Cybernetica AS
• Partners: Tallinna Tehnikaülikool, Tartu Ülikool
• Key people: Leo Mõtus, Kuldar Taveter, Jaan Priisalu 
   

The project is supported by Estonian Research Council RITA1 programme.

Activities: CyberSpike, participation in the international competition European Cyber Security Challenge, CyberCracker

• Key people: Birgy Lorenz

Project website

The project’s mission is a smarter Internet use by children and their parents and the prevention of the online distribution of child sexual abuse material.

• Coordinator: MTÜ Lastekaitse Liit
• Partners: Information Technology Foundation for Education (HITSA), TalTech, Estonian Social Insurance Board (operates Child Helpline 116111) 
• Key people: Anu Baum, Birgy Lorenz

Project website

The project is co-financed 50% by the the European Commission Connecting European Facility Programme.

The central mission of this project is to establish a secure, unambiguous and unified exchange of data in all communication networks where metrological data is used. The SmartCom project will develop, provide and distribute a formal framework for the transmission of metrology data on the basis of the SI (International System of Units). The framework will be applicable to all metrology domains. Furthermore, a worldwide-applicable concept for the use of digital calibration certificates (DCC) will be made available for the first time. The development of demonstrators in two industrial domains will also prove the benefit and innovation potential of the project’s outputs for industry.

• Project period: 06/2018 - 05/2021
• Leading partner: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany
• Partners
• Key people: Olaf Maennel, Kristine Hovhannisyan, Andrew Roberts, Thomas Holstein, Jens Getreu

Project website

A Joint Research Project within the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR).

ECHO delivers an organized and coordinated approach to improve proactive cyber defence of the European Union, through effective and efficient multi-sector collaboration. The Partners will execute on a 48-month work plan to develop, model and demonstrate a network of cyber research and competence centres, with a central competence at the hub. The Central Competence Hub serves as the focal point for the ECHO Multi-sector Assessment Framework enabling multi-sector dependencies management, provision of an ECHO Early Warning System, an ECHO Federation of Cyber Ranges and management of an expanding collection of Partner Engagements. The ECHO Multi-sector Assessment Framework refers to the analysis of challenges and opportunities derived from sector specific use cases, transversal cybersecurity needs analysis and development of inter-sector Technology Roadmaps involving horizontal cybersecurity disciplines. The Early Warning System, Federation of Cyber Ranges and Inter-sector Technology Roadmaps will then be subject of Demonstration Cases incorporating relevant involvement of inter-dependent industrial sectors. The ECHO Cyber-skills Framework provides the foundation for development of cybersecurity education and training programmes including a common definition of transversal and inter-sector skills and qualifications needed by cybersecurity practitioners. The ECHO Cybersecurity Certification Scheme provides a sector specific and inter-sector process for cybersecurity certification testing of new technologies and products resulting from the proposed technology roadmaps. The project will develop and operate under an ECHO Governance Model, by which the efforts across the EU Network of Cybersecurity Competence Centres can be coordinated and optimized to provide lasting and sustainable excellence in cybersecurity skills development; research and experimentation; technology roadmaps delivery; and certified security products for improved cybersecurity resilience.

• Project period: 01/2019 - 12/2022
• Partners
• Key people: Olaf Maennel, Kristine Hovhannisyan, Andrew Roberts

Project website

The project is supported by European Union Horizon 2020 programme.

Establishment of the TalTech Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) in cooperation with the IT department. The team will be run by the Cyber Operations Center (SOC), which aims to protect the data of students, university staff and various research groups from cyber attacks. The new units will also give students the opportunity to delve deeply into cyber security issues.

• Key people: Kieren Lovell, Risto Vaarandi, Toomas Lepik, and others

• Key people: Rain Ottis, Olaf Maennel, Toomas Lepik, and others

The goal of the project is to carry out applied research in the field of cyber hygiene, with a particular aim to analyse the theoretical background, risk evaluation concept and other critical technical and cyber security-related aspects of a Cyber Hygiene e-Learning and Risk Mitigation Platform offered by CybExer Technologies Ltd.

• Project period: 06/2017 - 12/2019
• Key people: Sten Mäses, Kaie Maennel, Olaf Maennel

The project is supported by applied research in smart specialisation growth areas: NUTIKAS programme.

The textbook has been supported by: Ministry of Education and Research. The Gymnasium book and exercises was created by the Estonian Atlantic Treaty Association, TalTech, Estonian Society of Informatics Teachers and Kehtna Vocational Education Centre.

• Project period: 09/2018 - 08/2019
• Key people: Birgy Lorenz (concept), Tiia Sõmer, Toomas Lepik, Sten Mäses

• Project period: 05/2017 - 05/2019
• Key people: Rain Ottis, Jaan Priisalu  

Guardtime aims to develop the digital signature scheme BLT. This research will study the security model and proofs, optimize and test the realization algorithms and elaborate technical specifications of the solution.

• Project period: 04/2017 - 04/2019
• Key people: Ahto Buldas, Ahto Truu, Risto Laanoja, Olaf Maennel
   

The project is supported by applied research in smart specialisation growth areas: NUTIKAS programme.

Risk analysis of the TalTech Iseauto (self-driving car) project.

• Project period: 2018
• Key people: Andro Kull  

Estonian ID-card case study (2017).

• Client: Information System Authority (RIA)
• TalTech research team: Ahto Buldas, Martha Jung, Kaja Kuivjõgi, Liisa Tallinn, Anna-Maria Osula, Rain Ottis, Jaan Priisalu, Toomas Vaks
• Final report (in Estonian)
• Overview (in English)

We have witnessed the creation of several national centres of excellence (CoEs) in the area of cybercrime all over Europe. Although some of the CoEs’ have made significant achievements, which have been praised in public media as well as within the scientific community, most of the centres have been operating largely in isolation from each other, pursuing different goals, and this has frequently resulted in duplication of effort. To overcome this fragmentation of resources, SENTER pulled the national centres of excellence together and created a network of the centres of excellence in the area of cybercrime research, training, and education. Having (i) a close relationship with the national law enforcement agencies, (ii) vast experience in developing training courses related to cybersecurity and cybercrime, and (iii) access to high quality R&D infrastructures, the network is in the best position to provide new training methods/techniques and expertise. The key objectives of SENTER are: to create a single point of reference for the European Commission in the area of cybercrime; to provide a sustainable international cross-organisational partnership by establishing an international collaboration model; to establish interest groups, which will optimise the efforts of existing national centres and avoid fragmentation and duplication of work; to create a community of the national centres in the area of cybercrime research training and education, a community that will set its objectives, its common activities, its common goals; to facilitate the transfer and adoption of best practices from leading countries to other countries in order to minimise the competence gaps; to increase awareness at an international level of the newest scientific and educational achievements in the selected domains (computer forensics, network forensics, mobile forensics, etc) and to speed up the process of scientific achievement productisation and time-to end-user usage; to establish a collection of best practices and lessons learned from all CoE projects that can be reused in future CoE national and international projects, and introduce better value/costs of new centre establishment; to define and pilot a business model that could be used in resource-limited member states and EU regions; to pilot the joint development of training programs and common international trainer groups for the selected competence areas; to establish cross continental/regional (USA, Latin, Asia, Africa, Australia) partnerships with other networks of similar nature; to create a long term partnership and collaboration model with related EU agencies. 

• Project period: 2016 - 2017
• Key people: Toomas Lepik, Anu Baum

The aim of the project is to reconstruct the spread and development of cyber crime in non-information and communications technology (non-ICT) sectors from the perspective of its economic impact on the key fabrics (i.e., economic and social) and different levels of European society, while also identifying and developing concrete inter-sector and intra-sector measures to manage and deter cyber crime.

• Project period: 2014 - 2017
• Key people: Tiia Sõmer, Sten Mäses, Rain Ottis, Toomas Lepik, Anu Baum

European Commission FP7 project

• Project period: 09/2017 - 12/2017
• Key people: Jaan Priisalu, Uko Valtenberg, Rain Ottis, Luc Dandurand

• Project period: 2017
• Key people: Tiia Sõmer, Rain Ottis

Background information, assessment of IT risks, cyber security planning, proposals for cyber security management, training and overview of implemented controls.

• Project period: 2016-2017
• Key people: Andro Kull
• Partners: European Spallation Source (ESS), international (located in Lund, Sweden)

• Key people: Toomas Lepik

• Project period: 2015 - 2017
• Key people: Jaan Priisalu, Uko Valtenberg

In collaboration with the Ministry of Defence and BHC Laboratory.

• Project period: 2015 - 2016
• Key people: Sten Mäses, Rain Ottis

A centre of digital forensics established in Tallinn University of Technology is based on the activities of 2Centre Estonia project. The centre will coordinate the R&D activities and education programme in the field. The centre belongs to the European network of 2Centres. A master level study programme and training modules are developed during the project.

• Project period: 2012-2014
• Key people: Anu Baum, Toomas Lepik, Rain Ottis