VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the Port of Oulu, and 20 other parties, including tech companies and academia, will carry out a three-year €12.8 million project tasked with enhancing secure situational awareness in critical cyber-physical systems.
"Unexpected events - such as accidents or physical and virtual attacks - can threaten the resilience of critical systems. These may result in blocked access to essential functions and resources, misuse of critical data, compromised physical safety, and lack of vital resources, which may cause fatalities, bankruptcies and even societal instability. Therefore, the project aims to develop secure situational awareness solutions, which are very important for critical logistics, mobility, energy, and security systems operating, e.g., in ports," Juhani Latvakoski, Principal Scientist and Project Lead, VTT, explained.
The project partners added in a press brief, "The project focuses on developing a secure situational awareness concept that enhances trust and security by building autonomous resilience into the system. This contributes towards ensuring that the port can recover from incidents and lower the risks for various digital and physical attacks."
The participating organisations are conducting research and developing products and solutions, with the opportunity to pilot them and test their compatibility with other systems within the port area. The goal is to identify export-ready products and systems, while enhancing collaboration between companies and supporting their international growth.
"We are developing a digital twin of the port area using various sensors, detectors, and radars. Additionally, innovative tracking and identification systems for port area traffic are of particular interest. New technologies provide opportunities, but a current challenge is that they primarily operate as separate applications. In this project, our goal is to create a comprehensive situational overview, particularly for managing safety and critical incidents," detailed Soila Riutta, Development Manager at the Port of Oulu.
Latvakoski summed up, "In today's world, where hostile events are constantly unfolding, the emphasis on secure situational awareness has never been greater. Ensuring digital trust and security for the protection of critical cyber-physical systems, along with fostering situational awareness, appears to be an effective way to build resilience. The port serves as an excellent testing ground, mirroring a miniature society with its diverse and complex operations."
Photo: Port of Oulu