SOTER: cyberSecurity Optimisation and Training for Enhanced Resilience in finance

As companies increasingly rely on Internet-based applications to do business, the privacy and security risks to which they and their customers are exposed on a daily basis grows exponentially. Cyber-attacks are no longer limited to high-level targets; they affect any business that depends on network applications, devices and systems. Increasingly sophisticated attacks also take advantage of insufficient security awareness, as well as the behaviour and attitudes of the people who manage or use them.

SOTER is taking a holistic research approach by combining two complementary lines of research to address the increasingly complex nature of cyber security resilience.

Combining the innovative technology of the onboarding platform with scientifically assessed training actions for financial organisations' employees, SOTER can critically improve and enhance cybersecurity within the organisation, improving the security of its customers, and the integrity of the sector as a whole. - Miren Karmele Garcia, SOTER's Project Coordinator

SOTER platform: Enhancing cybersecurity in the financial sector

The SOTER platform provides the individuals with a secure way to manage their digital identity – perfect for deployment in the digitised open-banking platform era. The SOTER architecture paves the way for a user-centric method of onboarding that allows individuals to control their own identity credentials. This interoperable architecture can potentially be the key to the whole Digital Single Market (DSM), increasing competition and lowering costs, all while increasing security. Coupled to this, the cybersecurity human factors research dramatically alters our understanding of integrity in organisations, placing the human at the centre of both organisational and critical sector cybersecurity resilience.

The solutions applied in the SOTER project will lead to a new cutting-edge interdisciplinary approach to enhance cybersecurity in the financial sector. Innovative technologies such as multifactorial customer authentication, biometric recognition, device fingerprinting, and blockchain technologies will be combined to provide a secure and robust onboarding solution for the financial services sector. To complement the technological solution, SOTER will also engage in human factors cybersecurity research, mapping the human factor threats and vulnerabilities in the financial sector, development of a comprehensive competence catalogue, and creation of a set of training and awareness modules specifically designed for the financial services sector.

To find out more, visit the SOTER minisite at the Cyberwatching European Project Hub.