GEIGER is the Cyberwatching.eu “Project of the week”!

This week, GEIGER has been selected as the “Project of the week” by Cyberwatching.eu. Cyberwatching.eu is the online hub for research and innovation in cybersecurity and privacy in Europe, offering a single gateway to innovative and trustworthy ICT products, services and software.

Cyberwatching.eu introduces the GEIGER project:

It is not only big businesses that need to prepare for the threat of cybercrimes. SMEs, which form the backbone of Europe's economy, also need to boost their cybersecurity. SMEs' dependency on information technologies and the internet has opened the door to vulnerabilities to cybercrime. The EU-funded GEIGER project will develop an innovative solution for SMEs and microenterprises (MEs) in Europe. It will make it easier for even the smallest business to assess, monitor and forecast risks and to reduce them. For instance, a special toolbox will allow stepwise do-it-yourself assessment and improvement of security, privacy and data protection with lightweight controls and advice for improved overall protection.

GEIGER Objectives

The GEIGER project will be an innovative solution with associated components and an Education Ecosystem addressing security, privacy and data protection risks of and for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Microenterprises (SMEs & MEs) in Europe. GEIGER will be developed in analogy of a GEIGER counter for detecting atomic radiation threatening human life.

The GEIGER solution will be used for assessing, monitoring, and forecasting risks and reducing there risks by improving the SMEs' and MEs' security with well-curated tools, and an education program targeting practitioners-in-practice as "Certified Security Defenders" bringing security expertise sustainably to SMEs & MEs using existing vocational education frameworks. GEIGER consists of a GEIGER indicator that dynamically summarises the current level of risk by evaluating measures undertaken for security defences among the participating SMEs & MEs.

The GEIGER Indicator can be personalised by registering the enterprise's profile and supports GDPR-compliant sharing and exchanging data about incidents.

The GEIGER Toolbox allows stepwise do-it-yourself assessment and improvement of the SMEs' & MEs' security, privacy, and data protection with lightweight controls and advice for improved protection at varied levels of sophistication. The included tools offer endpoint, server, and network protection and guide the SME & ME in a personalised manner in data hygiene, including access and security control, data privacy management, and backup practices.

The GEIGER Education Ecosystem offers experimental-based training and cyber range-enabled challenges and will be integrated into curricula of diverse professions of non-ICT experts, offering direct impact on SMEs & MEs through target group-oriented education. The GEIGER solution will be demonstrated in three complementary use cases within three countries.

GEIGER will achieve sustainable impact by raising awareness of more than one million SMEs & MEs within a period of 2.5 years after start.

GEIGER is further described in the Cyberwatching.eu news article:

"GEIGER will offer an easy and affordable cybersecurity solution that allows small businesses to become aware of their biggest cyber risks and offers intuitive guidance for eliminating them. GEIGER differs from other cybersecurity solutions. It focuses on motivating the owner of the small business to get protected, offers real human help with people educated and certified in how to protect a small business, and swiftly adapts to changes in the applicable cyber threats." - Prof. Dr Samuel Fricker, FHNW, GEIGER Project Lead

GEIGER makes cybersecurity more approachable to MSEs without expertise in digital security issues. In comparison to threat communication by CSIRTs and CERTs, GEIGER offers sensors to the MSE that allow a high degree of personalisation, and consequently, recommendations that are easier to understand and apply. Hence, each MSE is informed about what really matters for them and gets notified of new or changing threats. The open GEIGER framework is compatible with existing tools and service offerings and allows the respective providers to be recommended when their value proposition becomes applicable for an MSE.

GEIGER’s Innovative solution: supporting the future Horizon Europe and Digital Europe

One of the important aims of the GEIGER platform is to maximise innovation potential. Throughout the whole project, an ecosystem is being bootstrapped. It consists of MSEs end-users and their relevant communities and networks, cybersecurity and data protection tool providers, educators and certifiers offering the Digital Security Defenders education, and CSIRTs and CERTs taking responsibility for the MSEs. The GEIGER platform will be an open information sharing and analysis platform, allowing these third-parties to interoperate and benefit from being a member in the rich and healthy GEIGER ecosystem.

GEIGER allows micro and small enterprises (MSE) to become and stay aware of cyber and data protection threats. It applies the concept of the well-known Geiger Indicator for detecting atomic radiation to cybersecurity: a quick assessment of the MSEs digital security level. GEIGER also helps small business owners to overcome the emotional "coping barrier". The project will develop a standardised, low-threshold learning programme for "Digital Security Defenders". As trusted advisors or employees, Security Defenders will pass their knowledge on to MSEs, and offer help in assessing and improving their cybersecurity and data protection tools and practices, using the GEIGER Toolbox.

Read the Cyberwatching.eu “Project of the week” highlight here, the news article here and find the GEIGER page on the Cyberwatching.eu platform here.

On 23 November 2020, GEIGER participated in the Cyberwatching.eu webinar 'Cybersecurity risk management: How to strengthen resilience and adapt in 2021'. Read more and watch the recording of the event here.