European Identity THeft Observatory System

Projektinformationen

EITHOS

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 101073928

DOI

10.3030/101073928

Projekt abgeschlossen

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 18 Juli 2022

Startdatum 1 Oktober 2022

Enddatum 30 September 2025

Finanziert unter

• Civil Security for Society

Gesamtkosten

€ 2 996 141,25

EU-Beitrag

€ 2 996 141,25

Koordiniert durch

ETHNIKO KENTRO EREVNAS KAI TECHNOLOGIKIS ANAPTYXIS
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EITHOS (European Identity THeft Observatory System)

Berichtszeitraum: 2023-10-01 bis 2025-09-30

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

In recent years, Online Identity Theft (OIDT) related frauds have increased at an extremely fast pace. On one hand, our use of – and dependence on – online platforms is growing, and spans a wide spectrum of personal and professional endeavours. These include video calls, social media, e-banking, online consumer services, education, and entertainment, among others. On the other, technological advances have given rise to a number of tools, ranging from the simple to the sophisticated, that can help criminals fool their victims: keyloggers, phishing, deepfakes, and many more.
EITHOS developed a novel Identity Theft Observatory System, empowering European citizens, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), and policymakers to further contribute to the prevention, detection, investigation, and mitigation of OIDT, related crimes, and societal impact. It provides a common gateway based on two pillars:
1. Inform & Educate European citizens through the observatory itself and via innovative awareness campaigns, regarding the safety of their personal data and identity
2. Identify & Αddress the challenges that Law Enforcement Agencies face against OIDT and develop a robust software toolset for detecting fake media to support them and enhance their investigations.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

EITHOS completed the full development, integration, and validation of its AI-based toolset, delivered stable versions of both Observatories (Citizens/Victims and LEAs), and implemented extensive awareness, training, and monitoring activities. The 4 technological tools (video deepfake detection, audio deepfake detection, botnet detection, and multilingual knowledge extraction) all reached TRL5–6 and were integrated into the LEA Observatory through a secure, scalable microservices architecture. 2 full testing cycles with LEAs were completed, resulting in strong usability and acceptance scores.
At the same time, the project delivered major scientific, legal-ethical, and socio-psychological outputs: updated legal/ethical frameworks, complete digital-evidence guidelines, landscape-monitoring reports, and substantial empirical research on societal impact and victimisation. Awareness campaigns, school workshops, a multilingual training kit, a MOOC, and victim-support materials reached tens of thousands of stakeholders. Policy recommendations were finalised and disseminated broadly.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

EITHOS produced several advances that go beyond the current state of the art in AI-enabled security, digital forensics, and socio-legal research. Technically, the project introduced new deepfake-detection methods, multilingual audio-deepfake detection adapted to real LEA languages, a forensically aware botnet-detection tool, and an unsupervised multilingual trend-extraction system validated with real and synthetic datasets. These innovations are complemented by original datasets created within the project, robust validation procedures, and operational integration in a secure, event-driven LEA platform with automated reporting for evidentiary traceability.
On the societal and legal side, EITHOS generated one of the most extensive qualitative knowledge bases on OIDT victims in Europe and introduced novel art-based tools to translate psychosocial evidence into accessible public-awareness resources. Its legal-ethical framework integrates AI-specific risk assessment (ALTAI/FRAI), GDPR-compliant digital-evidence guidance, and harmonised principles for cross-border investigations.