European Identity THeft Observatory System

Informazioni relative al progetto

EITHOS

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 101073928

DOI

10.3030/101073928

Progetto chiuso

Data della firma CE 18 Luglio 2022

Data di avvio 1 Ottobre 2022

Data di completamento 30 Settembre 2025

Finanziato da

• Civil Security for Society

Costo totale

€ 2 996 141,25

Contributo UE

€ 2 996 141,25

Coordinato da

ETHNIKO KENTRO EREVNAS KAI TECHNOLOGIKIS ANAPTYXIS
Greece

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

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-10-01 al 2025-09-30

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

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.

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

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.

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

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.