The overall work of CIRCAT has been organised into six Work Packages (WPs). WP1 (Project management and coordination) is focused on the project management activities, and the legal and ethical monitoring of the project’s activities and will run throughout the entire duration of the project. WP2 (CIRCAT Solution Integration and Deployment) is focused on the definition of the penetration testing scenarios, the end user requirements elicitation, the identification of the technical specifications contributing to the functional design and architecture and the continuous implementation, integration and delivery, the use cases implementation and the verification and integration testing. WP3 (AI-based Threat Intelligence and Real-Time Vulnerability Analysis) is targeted at the enrichment and deployment of the proposed components. WP4 (CIRCAT Demonstration and Evaluation) focuses on the preparation, execution and evaluation plans, the development of the demonstration scenarios and the demonstration of the CIRCAT tools through the use cases execution. WP5 (Open Call Planning, Execution, and Reporting) is targeted to the open call preparatory calls, the launch and evaluation process as well as the overall assessment of the performed work during the open call lifecycles. Finally, WP6 (Dissemination, Communication and Exploitation Results) is focused on the dissemination and communication activities to enhance project visibility and foster community development, raise awareness and facilitate exploitation.
WP1: Project management and coordination
The main objectives of WP1 are to (a) monitor and guide the project’s activities, (b) ensure the high quality of the project’s outcomes, (c) identify project risks and implement the appropriate mitigation actions, (d) interface with the granting authority.
WP2: CIRCAT Solution Integration and Deployment
WP2 aims to (a) design and document the realistic penetration testing scenarios, (b) collect and analyse the requirements coming from different stakeholders to fully understand the needs and the functionalities to be included in each of the components, (c) provide the architecture and technical design of the solution that will guide the development process to be carried out in WP3, (d) develop the technical specifications of the component(s), (e) implement the penetration testing scenarios with the use of the developed tools for the validation and verification of the solution’s integrated components, (f) develop a user-friendly dashboard so that the users can easily interact with the tools, (g) use cyber range technology in order to create a secure, trusted environment for the testing of all components.
WP3: AI-based Threat Intelligence and Real-Time Vulnerability Analysis
The objectives of WP3 are to (a) enhance the detection collection and analysis of threat intelligence information for the mitigation of cybersecurity threats, (b) identify, analyse and assess vulnerabilities, enhancing and deploying AI-based solutions, (c) deploy a near real-time risk monitoring framework, (d) develop trustworthy and explainable AI/ML schemes (e) develop a secure and trusted procedure to enhance and increase the information sharing.
WP4: CIRCAT Demonstration and Evaluation
WP4 will achieve the following objectives: (a) define the requirements and interfaces needed for the execution of the scenarios derived from the penetration scenarios with the use of CIRCAT’s tools, (b) provide meaningful training for CIRCAT’s tools, (c) evaluate the execution of the demonstration scenarios and its results compared to the defined KPIs, (d) transform the outcome of the demonstration scenarios into meaningful results.
WP5: Open Call Planning, Execution, and Reporting
The objective of WP5 is to launch and manage 2 Open Calls along the project; the Penetration Testing Scenarios Development Open Call launched in M6 to select up to 18 third-party projects to define Testing Scenarios in Critical Infrastructure Sectors and the Cyber threat support services Open Call launched in M17 to select up to 38 SMEs to run the Penetration testing for the Scenarios defined. The specific objectives are to (a) properly define the challenge for the Open Calls and to reach out to a critical mass of applicants, (b) manage the full process of open calls following EC standards, (c) ensure a smooth management of the Financial Support to Third Parties based on a Lump sum scheme certified against deliverables and (d) provide a full range of support services to the selected third-party projects.
WP6: Dissemination, Communication and Exploitation of Results
WP6 aims to establish, coordinate, and execute dissemination and communication initiatives to enhance project visibility and foster community development. Through a diverse range of tools and activities, the aim is to raise awareness and engage stakeholders effectively, which is vital for ensuring impactful and sustainable outcomes, as well as facilitating exploitation.