Enhancing cybersecurity automation and information sharing in defence systems
HERMES EDIDP PROJECT
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION SYMPOSIUM FOR EUROPEAN SECURITY AND DEFENSE 2023 | MAY 29TH – MAY 31ST | RODES, GREECE
AGENDA
About the HERMES Project
HERMES Objectives
HERMES as a Solution
HERMES Outcomes and Achievements
HERMES Evaluation Process
ABOUT HERMES
Advanced Design of the HERMES Data Exchange Platform Supporting the Cyber Defence of Autonomous Military Systems
HERMES
Programme: European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP)
Duration: 33 months
Start date: 01 Dec 2021
Total budget: 2,499,780.00 €
100% EC Funded
2 – Phases Project
Implementation Phases
ABOUT HERMES – THE TEAM
TALGEN Cybersecurity OÜ (Subcontractor)
Our Team
EBOS Technologies (Coordinator)
Invisible Things Lab (Consortium Member)
ITTI Sp. z.o.o. (Consortium Member)
HERMES brings together four SMEs with great expertise in software development and cybersecurity.
ABOUT HERMES – THE CONCEPT
HERMES is a military-grade, enterprise system composed of different software components that can be deployed in various parts of an organisation across various security domains.
It can be used by various experts to gather, curate and distribute cybersecurity information to several systems, including UGVs.
As a system, HERMES provides a foundation that addresses the challenges of overloading a cybersecurity system with poor quality, untimely, and irrelevant cybersecurity information:
To manage the volume and depth of cybersecurity knowledge necessary for cyber information superiority
For experts
to feed data to cybersecurity applications, increasing their ability to inter-operate but alto to function autonomously
For Systems
HERMES MAIN OBJECTIVE
To fully design and develop the HERMES Data Exchange Platform (DXP).
Based on prior work, published by the NATO Communications and Information Agency, HERMES uses an innovative approach addressing the main challenges affecting:
HERMES DXP will provide a foundation for a disruptive paradigm shift in autonomous military systems ensuring cyber information superiority while also improving the ability of cybersecurity applications to interoperate and function autonomously in a reliable manner.
HERMES MAIN OBJECTIVE
Why HERMES DXP has been chosen?
Exchange
Because one of the key strengths of HERMES is to facilitate the exchange of data across cybersecurity solutions, organisational boundaries, and security domains.
Data
Because the primary usage of the information held in HERMES is automated and autonomous therefore relevant and timely data is required.
Platform
To stress the fact that HERMES is not a cybersecurity tool per se, but rather a foundational system that provides data to cybersecurity applications.
HERMES KEY OBJECTIVES
Put the groundwork in place for other SMEs to join the next steps, giving them an opportunity to be engaged, grow their capabilities, and make a larger contribution towards EU industrial autonomy.
Bring forward SME innovation
Improve the readiness, reliability, safety and sustainability of EU forces in all spectrum of tasks and missions.
Facilitate burden-sharing collaboration and outsourcing of cybersecurity data management
Address significant shortcomings within the cybersecurity domain with respect to the quality and relevancy of the information and data that reaches the human operators, services and autonomous devices.
Improve Information Superiority and Cyber Responsive Operations
HERMES will deliver the complete design for a cybersecurity solution contributing to the protection of future security and defence systems.
Deliver the complete design of the HERMES Data Exchange Platform
Enable automation and autonomy in cybersecurity operations
Offer the opportunity for applications to obtain their data from a common system that takes care of the common data representation, storage and exchange issues.
HERMES SEEKS TO…
Demonstrate the HERMES system’s key features identifying a business model for long-term sustainability.
Help cybersecurity solution vendors (manufacturers and operators) of autonomous military systems to work together more efficiently, to better support autonomous cyber defence.
Target the area of “cybersecurity solutions for the protection of future security and defence systems” of the EDIDP-SME-2020 call.
01
02
03
QUALITY OF HERMES DXP SOLUTION
Foundational System
Controlled Multilateral Sharing
Dynamic Ontologies
Data Centralisation
Security
Support Collaboration
Adaptable Quality Assurance
Expose Dissension to Reach Consensus
Ultimately, HERMES will provide a system by which an organisation can take ownership of its data (whether obtained from sharing agreements, procured, or generated), and offer the functionality necessary for its full lifecycle management and exploitation.
HERMES DEMONSTRATIONS
Dynamic ontologies and quality assurance
Security and multi-community and multi-domain synchronisation
Integration with existing data feeds, products and military systems
HERMES METHODOLOGY & STANDARDS
Agile Methodology
A non-sequential agile approach is followed to ensure that the system we want to implement meets the needs of the stakeholders and is delivered on time and within budget.
Continuously gathering and refining elements like the requirements while revisiting earlier steps, such as elicitation and analysis, as new information becomes available.
The same approach will be followed during demos, while the feedback gathered will enhance the system design.
HERMES METHODOLOGY & STANDARDS
Comply with Standards
Ensure that HERMES system requirements are effectively managed, and that HERMES architecture and system are designed to meet the desired quality, safety, and performance level for military applications.
be aligned with existing and emerging standards and standardisation bodies like NATO, PESCO, ECSO, ENISA, ETSI, and ITU.
HERMES EVALUATION METHODOLOGY
HERMES outcomes are evaluated by an End-User Advisory Board (EUAB) during multiple milestones.
Milestones consist of a formal review and engagement of the EUAB to capture feedback.
A presentation with project outcomes is taking place in a form of a review and at the end of each review, the members of the EUAB fill in a questionnaire capturing their assessment of the quality of the work done to date as a measure of the success of the project.
EUAB Members (6 in total):
HERMES EVALUATION & ACHIEVEMENTS
Mission Definition Review
Preliminary Requirements Review
System Requirements Review
Preliminary Design Review
Demo 1
Demo 2
Demo 3
Critical Design Review
EUAB reviewed and approved the project’s concept, Use Cases and initial Common Requirements of the HERMES system as agreed by the Member States.
EUAB reviewed and approved the final Common Requirements of HERMES system as they have been agreed by the Member States.
EUAB reviewed and approved the detailed requirements of the HERMES system and security by design approach followed in project.
EUAB will review and approve the preliminary design and final architecture of HERMES system.
EUAB will review and approve the full technical design of HERMES system.
EUAB will review and provide feedback and acceptance on results obtained during the 1st demonstration.
EUAB will review and provide feedback and acceptance on results obtained during the 3rd demonstration.
EUAB will review and provide feedback and acceptance on results obtained during the 2nd demonstration.
MS5 – Sep 2023
MS1 – June 2022
MS4 – June 2023
MS3 – Feb 2023
MS2 – Nov 2022
MS8 – July 2024
MS7 – Mar 2024
MS6 – Dec 2023
HERMES ACHIEVEMENTS
Completion of Phase 1 – Studies
Currently Implementing Phase 2 – Design
Impact Maximisation
HERMES ACHIEVEMENTS
Promote HERMES in Cyber-security & Defence Industry by:
FOLLOW US
www.hermes-dxp.eu
HERMES EDIDP Project
@HERMES_EDIDP
info@hermes-dxp.eu
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The work presented in this paper received funding from the European Commission, under the “European Commission’s European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) for 2020 Call, Topic: Innovative and future-oriented defence solutions” entitled HERMES (Advanced Design of the HERMES Data Exchange Platform Supporting the Cyber Defence of Autonomous Military Systems) under Grant Agreement number EDIDP-SME-2020-099-HERMES.
Project higher classification level on information sharing: Restricted
Frini Lazarou
HERMES Quality and Risk Manager
frinil@ebos.com.cy
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION SYMPOSIUM FOR EUROPEAN SECURITY AND DEFENSE 2023 | MAY 29TH – MAY 31ST | RODES, GREECE
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION