Independent Unit of Information Systems & Network Security

Computer, Networks and Information protection is a prerequisite when providing state services to citizens. Security awareness, design and implementation of trusted critical infrastructures is beneficial when trying to improve competitiveness and fight bureaucracy in public sector.

Independent Unit of Information Systems & Network Security Department of CTI, plays a key role for strengthening the confidence of education community towards this approach. By conducting basic and applied research on IT Security, Data Protection, Intrusion Detection Systems, Trustful Cryptographic Systems, Design and Implementation of ICT security solutions, Evaluation & Audit of Security measures and policies Security Training and Awareness, etc, is the authorized advisor of Ministry of Education and various other supervised organizations and departments.

Major research areas:

• Distributed Intrusion Detection Systems
• Malware Detection Systems
• Risk assessment and security strengthening
• Design and implementation of security policies
• Security Audits
• Design block cryptography and cryptanalysis
• Public Key Cryptography and Cryptanalysis of public cipher cryptosystems.
• Elliptic curves cryptography (ECC)
• Zero Knowledge Interactive Proof (ZKIP) systems
• Game Theory
• Security Awareness and Training

Department employs researchers from the Academia, PhD holders, MSc holders and ICT engineers specialized in security.

Some project activities:

• Technical Consultant and Security Auditor for Ministry of Education (2004-). Auditing over 20 subnets and 30 web servers providing information and administration services to the educational community, pupils and parents. Security consulting includes vulnerability assessment, penetration testing, application testing, web application security assessment, web application penetration testing, onsite internet security assessment, wireless assessment, IDS/IPS and firewall hardening.
• Technological Platform for Western Greece (2007-10): Computer System and Network Security training for SME’s. Early warning security mechanism for malicious behavior in Western Greece.
• ASPIS (www.aspis-project.eu) (FP7/2008-11). Autonomous Surveillance in Public Transport Infrastructure Systems. Project aims at the development of a prototype surveillance system based on autonomous, smart monitoring interconnected devices that capture data only upon the occurrence of an incident, potentially dangerous for the passengers of public transport infrastructure systems.
• Simsafety (http://www.simsafety.eu) (LLP/2009-11). The project addresses Internet safety issues aiming to an in-depth understanding regarding safety breaches and protective measures and actions, primarily within the primary school and family environment. For this purpose, an Online Virtual Game Environment has been developed, supporting: role-playing game scenarios, offered in real-time to dynamic groups of online users, exposed to (penalized) safety traps, which should be recognized and overcome through (accredited) appropriate game actions.
• ABC4Trust (https://abc4trust.eu) (FP7/2010-15). EU-funded research and development project advancing the federation and interchangeability of technologies supporting trustworthy and at the same time privacy-preserving Attribute-based Credentials (Privacy-ABCs). Attribute-based Credentials allow a holder to reveal just the minimal information required by the application, without giving away full identity information. These credentials facilitate the implementation of a trustworthy and at the same time privacy-protecting digital society.
• Integrated Services Digital Enhancement Trust (NSRF Digital Convergence/2011-15). Project’s objective is to enhance safety and confidence for ICT in Education by creating an information portal for Citizens about Digital Security and Digital Trust (digitrust.edu.gr), implementing of an early warning system for the risks of the Internet for the educational community (protos.cti.gr), and creating a security distro based on Ubuntu including all the necessary tools for cleaning viruses and malware and providing a secure environment for children as well as creating an interactive game about internet safety (secure-distro.cti.gr).