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Description
The world is experiencing a high demand for high-quality cybersecurity specialists due to an increasing number of cyber attacks and their technological advancement. In the Baltic countries, the geopolitical situation sets cybersecurity as a top priority. All economic sectors depend on the protection against cybercrime. In more than 90% of cyber incidents, humans could be seen both as attack targets and defenders having a broad set of technical and generic competencies. There is an enormous lack of research regarding the role of human factors in cybersecurity internationally. The establishment of an international cross-disciplinary research team will address the urgent need for a scientific understanding of human limitations and capabilities in the cyber kill chain.
The three Baltic countries and their partners from Norway and Liechtenstein make the team to investigate human behaviour in cybersecurity by combining research areas of computer science, psychology, and human genomics. The project aims to develop a comprehensive, science-based interdisciplinary framework to develop and assess generic and subject-related competences of the current and future cybersecurity workforce. The data will be gathered based on the participants of international cybersecurity exercises. Risk assessment and educational components will be tested in the student environment. Statistical and data mining tools will be used to interpret multilayered data and to find correlations among genetic, behavioural, and technical skills under stressful conditions.
Summary of project results
The geopolitical situation sets cybersecurity (CS) as a top priority in the Baltic countries, as all economic sectors depend on protection against cybercrime. Therefore, the three Baltic countries and their partners from Norway and Liechtenstein joined forces to investigate human behaviour in cybersecurity by combining computer science, psychology, education, and human genomics research. The project aimed to develop a comprehensive, science-based interdisciplinary framework to develop and assess generic and subject-related competences of the current and future cybersecurity workforce. The project results impact the resilience against cybercrime at the national level in the Baltics and the region. Also, the developed framework can serve as a state-of-the-art tool for the international research and professional community to further understand human limitations and capabilities in the cyber kill chain.
The project addressed three challenges - 1. Cybersecurity, 2. Preventive and personalised medicine, and 3. Economic, social challenges and innovative society.
The main project objective was to advance the performance of a cybersecurity specialist by identifying possible improvements from three different perspectives: by regarding the human as a biological entity, by analysing the person''s behaviour patterns, and by addressing the necessary knowledge and skills of the cybersecurity specialist.
The main research tasks were envisioned to produce results. This includes:
identifying key performance indicators in individual and team-level training/exercises,
developing methods to assess and predict human performance, and
developing specific tools to advance the performance of a human in learning to cope with challenges during stressful situations.
The project''s main benefits outgrow the research framework, communication and teaching methods. Direct research benefits include recommendations to consider specific biological marker information, the risk assessment process based on joint interdisciplinary data, and educational methodology. Other benefits include tight team collaboration for the one project''s main research multidimensional aim, consensus on research differences, new project proposals, and future research spin-offs among team members.
The project has created an active multidisciplinary group of researchers and potentially new data for future research and scientific work. Although the project is now formally over, there are almost regular meetings to discuss future activities or project proposals.
Summary of bilateral results
Project research, dissemination, and internal collaboration activities create societal impacts, ensure knowledge exchange, and build long-term relationships. The project covered multiple research areas. To collaborate among researchers and better understand the modus operandi in research, partners spent numerous meetings adapting to each other''s dictionaries and sharing knowledge of capabilities in each related area. Participation and selection of multi-field journals and conferences enabled all team members to better understand and cope with differences in research requirements and experimentation limitations. The partners initiated preparing new publications, writing funding applications, and arranging joint academic activities.Partners were involved in activities at partner institutions and stakeholders to share and exchange knowledge and strengthen collaboration ties. Active communication allowed the team to know each other better and build relationships. The project team structure and goals made the project attractive to the international community - Vilnius University investigators were invited to give presentations in several events organized by embassies of non-beneficiary countries (Italy, UK).