Skip to main content
European Commission logo
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
CORDIS Web 30th anniversary CORDIS Web 30th anniversary
Content archived on 2024-06-18

Cyber Security and Resilience of Networked Critical Infrastructures

Final Report Summary - SERENITI (Cyber Security and Resilience of Networked Critical Infrastructures)

SERENITI (Cyber security and resilience of networked critical infrastructures) is an FP7-funded Marie Curie Career Integration Grant coordinated by Prof. Haller Piroska, and having as research fellow, Dr. Genge Béla, at the “Petru Maior” University of Tîrgu Mureș, Romania. Started in March 2014, the project aims at elaborating novel holistic methodologies for the design of security and resilience-aware Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) infrastructures for modern Networked Critical Infrastructures (NCIs). Summary of the project objectives:
O1. To develop security and resilience-aware network design methodologies for NCI.
O2. To develop a novel physical process- and self- aware Distributed Intrusion Detection System integrated into NCI.

According to its objectives, the project addressed two timely issues for the design of secure and resilient NCI. In the first reporting phase the researcher elaborated innovative solutions for automating the design of NCI by enhancing their architecture with security best practices and by taking into account their fundamental and critical operational requirements. The second phase of the project took the idea further and advanced the NCI architecture by integrating a Distributed Intrusion Detection System (DIDS). Mr. Genge identified key technologies from the field of traditional computer networks (e.g. Software-Defined Networks and Network Function Virtualization), which have been adapted and integrated into the core of NCI to fulfill the requirements of a process- and self-aware DIDS.

The project contributed with a new level of understanding in terms of designing NCI. Its findings might be useful to policy makers from the field of Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP), such as the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security’s (ENISA) Critical Infrastructure working group, or the Joint Research Centre’s Critical Infrastructure Protection action. The results have been documented in six peer-reviewed scientific publications included in prestigious journals such as IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, IEEE Systems Journal, IEEE Access, and the International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection. Furthermore, the fellow published preliminary and extensive results in 15 scientific conference publications at IEEE/IFIP Networking, ACM’s EuroSec, and CRITIS.

A notable aspect of project SERENITI is that it ensured Mr. Genge’s long-term career integration at the “Petru Maior” University of Tîrgu Mureș. Starting with October 2015, the fellow has been appointed as an Associate Professor of Computer Science. On the 23rd of June 2016 he successfully defended his Habilitation thesis “Contributions to Improving the Cyber Security and Resilience of Networked Critical Infrastructures” at the Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The habilitation allows Mr. Genge to independently supervise PhD students in the field of Computer Science.

The significant impact of the project’s results is also visible from the number of citations to the project’s publications. Until the writing of this report, SERENITI’s publications recorded 185 citations, which boosted Mr. Genge’s H-index to 15.

Lastly, it is worth mentioning that, throughout this project, an impressive number of eight distinct software prototypes have been developed, which are publicly available to the scientific community via the project’s Web site.

For more information about SERENITI, please visit: http://upm.ro/sereniti/