How to address the dangers of the cyber continuum in digital data spaces: the European Commission is funding the MEDIATE Project to create a software infrastructure for more effective management of access rights, data security and privacy
Technological advances in information and communication technologies have triggered the process of realising collaborations and workflows based on data management on an unprecedented scale. The integration process developed between the different levels of complex systems and services has raised significant problems and challenges. Digital data spaces are based on the realisation of the so-called computing continuum, which is made possible by the integration of the cloud, edge and Internet of Things (IoT). This system generates significant security and privacy risks because it involves a large number of entities and devices with different profiles, which process a large amount of potentially sensitive information.
To improve these aspects, the European Commission has funded the Horizon Europe-IA MEDIATE Project (Multi facEteD ImplementAtion of a mixed sofTwarE/hardware-based zero-trust framework for the computing continuum), coordinated by the Technical University of Crete, in which the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies of Pisa participates as a partner of the CNR-IT, with the research group coordinated by Andrea Saracino, professor of Information Engineering at the Institute of Telecommunications, Informatics and Photonics. Andrea Saracino was one of the promoters of the proposal, which he presented when he was a researcher at the CNR.
The aim of the project is to create a software infrastructure for the management of access rights, data security and privacy in a cyber-physical environment with multiple subjects. This environment must be able to perform security control at all levels of the architectural continuum, including software, cloud components and edge devices, in particular IoT. The components developed in the project will be based on architectural models that guarantee security and reliability. The key technologies used in the MEDIATE project are dynamic intrusion detection, access control based on the Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) authorisation model and privacy enhancing technologies (PET), which allow data to be analysed without disseminating sensitive data.
The role of the School will be to provide knowledge and tools for managing access rights, exploiting the ABAC paradigm and its dynamic extension called Usage Control.
