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EU-HYBNET 3rd Innovation Standardisation Workshop #ISW2024

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We are pleased to announce that EU-HYBNET’s 3rd “Innovation Standardisation Workshop” will take place on 22nd October 2024 in Brussels, Belgium.

The purpose of the Innovation Standardisation Workshop is to provide hybrid threats stakeholders and EU-HYBNET consortium partners to map the current status of standardisation efforts in the field and identify needs and possibilities for the future.

The workshop will be divided into four thematic sessions, each dedicated to one of the innovative solutions developed during the past months of the project:

1. Innovation: Citizen – Responder Platform for Information Sharing in cases of Emergency and Crises (CRP)

The information-sharing environment and platform called as “Citizen – Responder Platform” (CRP) may ensure trusted information for the first and second responders’ analysis and reaction because the platform hosts a variety of tools used by citizens in crises and emergencies for live information sharing. The CRP will also be able to analyse with the support of AI that the data/information shared is not fake. The CRP also supports gaining information on false alarms, incl. adversaries’ means to provide false data and amplify the crises with the hybrid threat campaign of destabilising society and citizens’ trust in authorities. This information is beneficial for intelligence to learn about adversaries’ means, tactics & techniques used.

2. Innovation: Local Media Hybrid Threats Tracker (LMHTT)

The solution focuses specifically on assessing the potential risks of Foreign Interference and Manipulation of Information (FIMI) campaigns and media pluralism at the local and regional levels. It is a diagnostic tool for academic researchers, media literacy experts, and fact-checkers to produce reports and alert security practitioners on potential threats that need to be investigated or may be linked to other cases.

3. Innovation: Citizens Reporting Tool on Suspicious Signs (CiReTo)

Innovation focuses on how to enhance and extend the use of recording and geolocating acts of harassment and violence (or calls for violence) in physical space and acts of harassment and calls for violence online to create safer streets and online spaces. The main goal is to provide a platform for users to report incidents of harassment and violence, both on the street and online, including features for reporting incidents, capturing evidence, and alerting authorities or support networks. Additionally, the app may incorporate community-building elements to foster solidarity and support among users. It would be especially useful in crisis situations like riots, if used by large number of users.

4. Innovation: STARLIGHT and Innovation Testing Best Practices

STARLIGHT project is one of the flagship projects dedicated to delivering an easily deployable toolset to address various needs of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and other security practitioners driven by constantly changing tech-driven crimes. The project is organised so that there are co-development cycles in each group in scope (one of them is disinformation and misinformation). Co-development means that each group has potential end-users of the solutions under development. Development is done based on the end-users’ expectations. They also contribute use cases and are involved in the overall development process. Such an approach provides benefits for both developers and end-users. Developers get to understand the realistic needs of end-users during the development so they can adjust functionalities, interfaces or other aspects during the early stage. At the same time, end-users can understand the solution better and get to know how they can use it and what results they can expect. Early involvement and co-development are essential for the uptake process. This approach can also be applied in other projects or the uptake process in general.

Each session will last one hour and will include:
– A short presentation of the innovation solution by an EU-HYBNET Consortium Partner
– Two 20-minute presentations related to the topic by practioners, researchers, or industry experts
– A 15-minutes discussion

The event agenda can be found here and registration can be found here.

If you require any further information, please contact event organiser – EU-HYBNET partner – Polish Platform for Homeland Security (Malgorzata Wolbach malgorzata.wolbach@ppbw.pl)

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EU-HYBNET 4th Future Trends Workshop #FTW2024

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We are pleased to announce that the EU-HYBNET consortium will hold its fourth Future Trends Workshop, #FTW2024, on 23 April 2024 at the Valencia Local Police Headquarters in Valencia, Spain. Please save the date in your calendars!

Four years into the EU-HYBNET project, this workshop will build on the project findings and provide a platform of interaction for various stakeholders to discuss scenarios related to future manifestations of hybrid threats, looking into solutions and innovations not only for today but also for tomorrow. The purpose of the workshop is to support stakeholders’ everyday work by providing a future outlook for strategic planning and consider the consequences of today’s policy choices in long-term.

More information will be shared in due course. The agenda can be found here and will be updated regularly. The workshop will be open to project partners and external participants upon registration.

Registration Closed
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EU-HYBNET 4th Annual Workshop #AW2024

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We are pleased to announce that the EU-HYBNET consortium will hold its fourth Annual Workshop, #AW, on 24 April 2024 at the Valencia Local Police Headquarters in Valencia, Spain. Please save the date in your calendars and share the event with your networks!

This workshop will present the results and findings of the EU-HYBNET project during the past year. The consortium aims to ensure vivid interaction with all hybrid threats stakeholders to assess the feasibility of the project findings and possible recommendations to innovations uptake and standardisation.

As part of the event, EU-HYBNET will also be inviting providers of innovative solutions on security-related topics to present research and/or innovations which could contribute to countering hybrid threats. Please find the call for pitches further below.

The workshop will be open to project partners, network members and external participants upon registration. Please find the event agenda here, which will be updated regularly.

Registration Closed

Call for Pitches/Innovations

As part of the 4th Annual Workshop, EU-HYBNET is inviting organizations and projects that work with security-related topics to present innovations (technological and non-technological e.g. SOPs, training) which contribute to countering hybrid threats in following areas: 

* Future trends in hybrid threats: detection of the weak signals and vulnerabilities to improve foresight capability in the areas of:

  • Political deficiency (Political volatility – structural threat / Lack of policy foresight)
  • New agit-prop (Disinformation spread through encrypted and multiple private messaging apps / Anti-system movements)
  • Substitutive reality (Conspiracy theories spread to European realities / Alternativisation of reality)

* Cyber and Future Technologies: monitor and analyse attempts to manipulate civil societies in digital environment (combat information manipulation) such as:

  • Stealing data attacking individuals (Theft of work or employee data in politically exposed institution / Doxxing civil society organization (CSO) activists / Leak of hospital patient data / Social engineering (impersonation, taming with billing systems and obligations))
  • Online manipulation attacking democracy (AI generated content – structural threat / Content moderation weaponization / Artificial amplification (CIB)
  • Attack on services (Denial-of-service/DDOS / Physical attack on infrastructures critical to population livelihood (cyber-physical))

* Resilient civilians, local level and national administration: increase trust among government and people e.g.

  • Spreading violence (Increasing tolerance for violence as a mode of political dissent– structural threat / Online political harassment and “SLAPP”)
  • Attack on social structures (Vulnerability of higher education institutions to interference / Collapse of the hospital system under massive patient afflux)
  • Undermining institutions’ internal organisation (Personnel tensions in critical areas – structural threat / Obsolete hierarchies in national security agency)

* Information and strategic communication, incl. foreign information manipulation and interference, e.g.

  • Media conundrum (Difficult sustainability of quality journalistic media)
  • Victimization narratives in the informational space (Generalization of narratives based on victimized identities)
  • Attack on information (Pressures onto independent fact checkers / Increased use of visual misinformation)

Innovations related to hybrid threats but not linked to the topics abovementioned can be submitted. For the technological solutions we encourage you to submit your application only if your solution has a TRL >7.  If you are interested in presenting your innovation in-person during the Annual Workshop, please fill out the template which you can download below. Kindly send your description of an innovation by the 29th of February 2024 to Laurea University of Applied Sciences (LAUREA), EU-HYBNET Project Manager Ms. Tiina Haapanen tiina.haapanen@laurea.fi

Download the submission form here!

Once we have received all inputs, EU-HYBNET will select 3-4 most promising innovation to be presented during the workshop on 24/4/2024 in Valencia, Spain (venue: Valencia Local Police Head Quarters). Travel cost of presenters will be covered by the project to reasonable extend.

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EU-HYBNET 2nd Innovation Standardisation Workshop/2º Taller de Estandarización de la Innovación  #ISW2023

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We are pleased to announce that EU-HYBNET’s 2nd “Innovation Standardisation Workshop” will take place on 8th November 2023 in Valencia, Spain. Registration is now closed!

EU-HYBNET’s Innovation Standardisation Workshop (ISW) will bring together EU-HYBNET consortium partners and hybrid threats stakeholders to map the current status of standardisation efforts in the field and identify needs and possibilities for the future.

This workshop will explore the issue fo standardisation in two parallel tracks of work:

  1. Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI)
  2. Protection of critical infrastructure

The final event agenda is now available here.

If you require any further information, please contact event organiser – EU-HYBNET partner – Polish Platform for Homeland Security (Malgorzata Wolbach malgorzata.wolbach@ppbw.pl)

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2º Taller de Estandarización de la Innovación de EU-HYBNET #ISW2023

Nos complace anunciar que el 2º “Taller de estandarización de la innovación” de EU-HYBNET tendrá lugar el 8 de noviembre de 2023 en Valencia, España.

El Taller de Estandarización de la Innovación (ISW, por sus siglas en inglés) de EU-HYBNET reunirá a los socios del consorcio EU-HYBNET y a las partes interesadas en las amenazas híbridas para llevar a cabo un análisis del estado actual de los esfuerzos de estandarización en este campo e identificar las necesidades y posibilidades para el futuro.

Este taller explorará la cuestión de la estandarización en dos líneas de trabajo paralelas:

  1. Manipulación de Información e Interferencias Extranjeras (FIMI, por sus siglas en inglés)
  2. Protección de infraestructura crítica

El programa ya está disponible (aquí link).

Si desea más información, póngase en contacto con el organizador del evento – socio de EU-HYBNET – Polish Platform for Homeland Security (Malgorzata Wolbach malgorzata.wolbach@ppbw.pl)

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EU-HYBNET 3rd Annual Workshop #AW

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We are pleased to announced that the EU-HYBNET consortium will hold its third Annual Workshop, #AW, on 20 April 2023 in Bucharest, Romania.

Please save the date in your calendars and share the event with your relevant networks!

This workshop will present the results and findings of the EU-HYBNET project during the past year. The consortium aims to ensure vivid interaction with all hybrid threats stakeholders to assess the feasibility of the project findings and possible recommendations to innovations uptake and standardisation.

As part of the event, EU-HYBNET will also be inviting providers of innovative solutions on security-related topics to present research and/or innovations which could contribute to countering hybrid threats.

Please find here the full draft agenda. The workshop is open to project partners and external participants upon registration.

Registration is closed

Call for Innovations – Pitches

As part of the 3rd Annual Workshop, EU-HYBNET is inviting organizations and projects that work with security-related topics to present innovations (technological and non-technological) which contribute to countering hybrid threats in following areas: 

* Future trends in hybrid threats: detection of the weak signals and vulnerabilities to improve foresight capability in the areas of 

  • Data analytics for social network intelligence
  • Individual profiling based on algorithmic predictions enabled by AI
  • NBIC: neurological, biological, information and cognitive sciences innovations and findings

* Cyber and Future Technologies: monitor and analyse attempts to manipulate civil societies in digital environment (combat information manipulation) such as

  • Interference practices during crisis
  • Building resilience to Fake News
  • Sentiments monitoring among population
  • Collaborative resilience (cyber and information environment) 

* Resilient civilians, local level and national administration: increase trust among government and people  

  • increasing civilian engagement in crisis management
  • methods/techniques to understand impacts of protest actions and movements on national politics and geopolitics

* Information and strategic communication  

  • Education and training for building resilience to disinformation and FIMI (Foreign information manipulation and interference)
  • Enhancing fact-checking and argument checking with AI technologies online (from pre-bunking to criminalization)
  • Anticipatory, Strategic, and warning intelligence against hostile influencing in the information environment

Innovations related to hybrid threats but not linked to the topics abovementioned can be submitted. For the technological solutions we encourage you to submit your application only if your solution has a TRL >7. 

If you are interested in presenting your innovation in-person during the Annual Workshop, please fill out the template which you can download below. Kindly send your description of an innovation by 17 March 2023 to the event organizer The “Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy (MVNIA), MS Ileana Surdu ileana.surdu@animv.ro

Once we have received all inputs, EU-HYBNET will select 3-4 most promising innovation to be presented during the workshop on 20/4/2023 in Bucharest, Romania (venue: Ramada Plaza Hotel). Travel cost of presenters will be covered by the project to reasonable extend.

Download Call for Pitches Here!
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EU-HYBNET 3rd Future Trends Workshop #FTW

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We are pleased to announce that the EU-HYBNET consortium will hold its third Future Trends Workshop, #FTW2023, on 19 April 2023 in Bucharest, Romania.

The third EU-HYBNET Future Trends Workshop’s topic is “Hybrid Threats in the EU Neighbourhood – Implications for the future of EU security”. Please register and share the event with your relevant networks!

Three years into the EU-HYBNET project, this workshop will build on the project findings and provide a platform of interaction for various stakeholders to discuss hybrid threats in the EU’s neighbourhood, implications for the future of EU security and innovations to counter them.

Since the landscape of hybrid threats is continuously evolving, foresight and creative thinking is central for understanding, detecting and responding to emerging threats. It focuses on a more anticipatory and prospective outlook, highlighting the weak signals and outliers of disruptive and paradigmatic change to the European security environment.

Recent events in the EU neighbourhood have brought into attention a complex dynamic of adversarial tools and strategies involving weaponization of information, technology, cyberspace, critical infrastructure, energy, in an intricate pattern aimed to weaken cohesion and generate polarisation across the EU and its neighbourhood.

The purpose of the workshop is to support stakeholders’ everyday work by providing a future outlook for strategic planning and consider the consequences of today’s policy choices in long-term.

Please find the full draft agenda here. Further information will be provided shortly.

The workshop is open to project partners and external participants upon registration.

Registration is closed
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EU-HYBNET Innovation Standardisation Workshop #ISW

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We are pleased to announce EU-HYBNET’s “Innovation Standardization Workshop” on 15th June 2022 at the Babylon Hotel, The Hague, NL.

The event is open to EU-HYBNET consortium partners. Registrations are now closed.

The Innovation Standardization Workshop (ISW) focuses on EU-HYBNET’s identified most promising technological and non-technological innovative solutions and tools to counter Hybrid Threats and their standardization landscape in two fields:

  • Countering disinformation and fake news, increasing the level of media literacy and social resilience.
  • Critical infrastructure protection and information sharing.

The ISW will start with a keynote speech on “Countering Russian Disinformation during the war against Ukraine” given by Maria Avdeeva, Research Director at the European Expert Association from Kharkiv, Ukraine. A second keynote speech will focus on “Innovation standardization landscape in the context of critical infrastructure protection and need for enhanced information sharing” provided by EU-Vri – Steinbeis European Risk & Resilience Institute.

Keynote speeches will be followed by parallel sessions for two working groups (WG) with the participation of expert speakers, invited guests and EU-HYBNET consortium and network members. The WGs are:

WG1. on “Standardization measures in the context of critical infrastructure protection and innovations to enhance information sharing”

This WG will focus on standardization experts and pan-European security practitioners’ views on present standards, needs and possibilities for standardization in the future noticing the challenges deriving form hybrid threats.

WG2. on “Standardisation and innovations in disinformation and media literacy”

This WG is dedicated on standardization best practices and innovative solutions answering security practitioners’ needs to counter information manipulation and interference, disinformation and media literacy.

In the context of Hybrid Threats and focus areas of the WGs, the WGs aim to formulate recommendations concerning standardization and present standards. The WGs’ goal is also to support EU-HYBNET’s most promising proposed innovations uptake for pan-European security practitioners to counter Hybrid Threats.

Please find below the full agenda.

EU-HYBNET_ISW 2022_programmeDownload

Participants are encouraged to attend the event in-person and join the discussions in the Hague. The sessions will also be broadcasted online; however, discussions in the parallel sessions will only be held in-person.

The event is invitation based. However, if you are interested in joining ISW due to your expertise in the focus areas of the workshop, please contact event organizer EU-HYBNET partner Polish Platform for Homeland Security Mr. Bartłomiej Ostrowski at bartlomiej.ostrowski@ppbw.pl.

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EU-HYBNET 2nd Future Trends Workshop #FTW – Democracies on the edge?

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The EU-HYBNET consortium will hold its second EU-HYBNET Future Trends Workshop, #FTW, on 5 of April 2022 in Rome and in hybrid format/telco. This workshop will address expected future manifestations of hybrid threats, and their evolving nature coupled with the different points of view that may be expressed as to how current innovations and solutions may or may not apply in tomorrow’s world.

The purpose of the workshop is to support the stakeholders’ everyday work by providing a future outlook for strategic planning and consider consequences of today’s policy choices in long-term.

The second EU-HYBNET Future Trends Workshop’s topic is “Democracies on the edge? Populism, Social networks, and international groups” including following topics:

* Trend 1 – Changing populism: what are the forms of populism? How will populism evolve and will it be a determining political movement in the future?

* Trend 2 – Instrumentalization of social networks: what are current social networks? How will the galaxy of social networks look like in the future? Will information virality models give and deepen social networks’ future harm potential at systemic levels?

* Trend 3 – Constitution of international groups: what narratives and topics unite and create movements transnationally? How this can be used as a tool by outside actors? Are these likely to grow into political force or are they more a disruption?

REGISTRATION

EU-HYBNET 2nd Future Trends Workshop Booklet with AgendaDownload

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EU-HYBNET 2nd Annual Workshop #AW

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Mark your calendars, because you are cordially invited to the 2nd EU-HYBNET Annual Workshop that will be held on 06 April 2022!

The EU-HYBNET Pan European Network to Counter Hybrid Threats Annual Workshop aims at highlighting the results and findings of the EU-HYBNET project gained during the second project year.

As part of the event, EU-HYBNET is inviting organizations that work with security-related topics to present research and/or innovations which could contribute to countering hybrid threats. EU-HYBNET is interested to hearing about a wide array of issues such as:

* Technological innovations.

* Ideas in organizational change.

* Public policy measures and experiences.

* Solutions to increase security in and resilience of critical infrastructures, cyber domain, local and national government.

* Information and strategic communication systems.

REGISTRATION
EU-HYBNET 2nd Annual Workshop Booklet with AgendaDownload

Call for Innovations – Pitches

As part of the Annual Workshop, EU-HYBNET is inviting organizations and projects that work with security-related topics to present research and/or innovations which could contribute to countering hybrid threats. EU-HYBNET is interested in hearing about a wide array of issues such as technological and non-technological innovations and ideas in following areas: 

* Future trends in hybrid threats: detection of the weak signals and vulnerabilities to improve foresight capability in the areas of 

– critical infrastructures and supply chains; 

– resilience of the space domain;  

– public outreach and content accessibility 

* Cyber and Future Technologies: monitor sentiments among populations such as 

– interference practices during crisis; 

– detection of fake content online; 

– disruptive technologies 

* Resilient civilians and local admin: increase trust among government and people  

– training/education of practitioners/citizens;  

– cross-collaboration initiatives between public and private sector; 

– destabilization aspects of democratic governance 
  

* Information and strategic communication  

– communication techniques targeting specific groups;  

– methodologies for fighting against disinformation;  

– methodologies for reducing impact of disinformation 

Innovations related to hybrid threats but not linked to the topics abovementioned can also be submitted. For the technological solutions we encourage you to submit your application only if your solution has a TRL >7. 

If you are interested in presenting your solution or innovative idea during the 2nd EU-HYBNET Annual Workshop, please fill out the template which you can download here. Each presentation will last a maximum of 10 minutes. Once we have received all inputs, EU-HYBNET will select the 6 most promising innovation to be presented during the workshop. 

Kindly send your innovation by 11 March 2022 COB to the event organizers Rachele Brancaleoni and Monica Bernassola, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore: 

rachele.brancaleoni@policlinicogemelli.it and monica.bernassola@unicatt.it 

Form Call for innovationDownload

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EU-HYBNET participates in the ‘Responding to hybrid threats in the Mediterranean and Black Sea region’ Workshop

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Come and meet us at the Workshop on ‘Responding to hybrid threats in the Mediterranean and Black Sea region’ Workshop. The event takes place online from 14th until 16th of December from 13.00 to 16.00 CET.

The purpose of the workshop is to contribute to the development of resilience against hybrid threats at a regional level within the member states and among its influencers and opinion formers. Hybrid threats erode the political cohesion of the alliance and its partners and are a part of the current EU, NATO, and the partner’s security landscape.
The primary objective is to examine a synchronization toolkit on resilience mechanisms between the EU, NATO, and regional authorities and to evaluate the effectiveness of the policy process from a central level down to regional levels among the target audience and to give guidelines in how to improve the process.

What we find today is that a state can reach the parts of another state’s triangle of war fighting capability much easier. It is simplified to say that it is about the Internet, but it is also true that the Internet facilitates a host of opportunities, good and bad when it comes to communicating with a population. Meddling in internal affairs disrupt the Western narrative of globalization, rule of law, democracy, and interconnectivity. Hybrid warfare as part of a wider information operation provides a problem partly by its content; partly by its due to attribution questions and the potential for deniability by the perpetrator.
Best practices analysis will fill knowledge gaps in addressing hybrid threats. The development of a resilience toolkit applicable at a regional level will lead towards a change of attitude vis-à-vis hybrid threats and to an improved EU-NATO- regional authorities synchronized effort in countering hybrid threats.

The wokshop is co-organised by EU-HYBNET partner Universidad Rey Juan Carlos along with Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Mid Sweden University and Ciberimaginario. The first day of the event (14th of December 2021), keynote speeches will be delivered to the audience. EU-HYBNET coordinator Päivi Mattila (Laurea) will present the project’s experience in building pan-European network to counter hybrid threats.

Agenda & Registration