An assessment of the ICT Security Skills in the Industrial Sector as Provided Through Education and Training

Cybersecurity has become an increasingly important aspect of public policy as Internet traffic increases and mounting cyber threats affect the operation of governments and businesses as well as the everyday life of citizens. Cybersecurity policy-making is at a turning point, becoming a national policy priority with explicit strategies in several countries. Even though the availability of high-level ICT security skills would significantly contribute in leveraging the economic growth of companies, still there is a lack of ICT security skills in Europe. In this paper, the ICT security skills gap between the industry needs and the academia/training curricula is investigated in seven European regions, followed by an analysis of the findings. Based on the findings, a framework is proposed to narrow the security skills gap

Mapping National Qualifications Frameworks and Awards using MapQFTool

Abstract This paper presents MapQFTool,

Dynamic and composable trust for indirect interactions

Thesis (Ph.D.), School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Washington State Universit

SECURITY PRACTICES IN CYPRUS

This focus of this paper is to investigate current security practices in Cypriot organizations, including enterprises and public sector divisions. It is viewed as part of a broader research effort that aims towards the development of an open-source Web-enabled interface that may provide specialized guidelines and suggestion for improved security and management of the ICT resources within an organization. In order to gain knowledge on the deployed security technologies by organizations, a survey has been conducted; the research instrument was a questionnaire composed from the IT Security Guidelines that are included in the ISO27001. The survey primarily examined established security policies and procedures. A research analysis has been performed and identified that, security mechanisms and the management of ICT resources may be improved on a number of aspects as outlined in this paper

SmartMinutes—A Blockchain-Based Framework for Automated, Reliable, and Transparent Meeting Minutes Management

The aim of this research work was to investigate the applicability of smart contracts in the context of automating the process of managing meeting minutes. To this end, smartMinutes, a proof-of-concept prototype of automating meeting minutes was designed, implemented, and validated with test cases. The smartMinutes framework improves current practices related to the meeting minutes process by providing automation in areas where possible, and doing so in a transparent, flexible, reliable, and tamper-proof manner. The last feature is of paramount importance due to the fact that meeting minutes offer legal protection, as they are considered official records of the actions taken by an organisation. Additionally, smartMinutes supports meeting agendas with non-voting items as well as voting items, offering a pool of three voting schemes, executing under three different configurations. A particular configuration, the hidden mode, provides for secrecy while at the same time guaranteeing transparency

Towards More Extensible and Resilient Real-Time Information Dissemination for the Electric Power Grid

The availability and integrity of the electric power grid heavily depends on maintaining a very close balance between its supply and demand. To achieve that balance, grid operators rely on real-time statu

Security, trust and QoS in next-generation control and communication for large power systems

control applications The present communication architecture supporting control of the electric power grid makes it difficult to use the wealth of data collected at high rates in substations, retarding their use in new applications for controlling the grid. A flexible, real-time data network would make it possible to use these data for many more control and protection applications, having the potential to increase the reliability of the grid and increase its operating efficiency. Example applications that could use these data include: decentralized load frequency control; closedloop voltage control; transient and small-signal stabilization; and special protection schemes taking advantage of data gathered over a wide area. Such applications and the flexibility of the underlying communication network imply greater sharing of data between the utilities making up the grid as well as performance, availability and reliability requirements. Mechanisms for managing security, trust, timeliness and path redundancy are thus important components of communication networks to support these control applications. This paper examines the security, trust and QoS requirements imposed by these applications and show how they are met by mechanisms included in the GridStat middleware framework that we are developing

Water taste and odor (T&O): Challenges, gaps and solutions from a perspective of the WaterTOP network

Aesthetic aspects of drinking water, such as Taste and Odor (T&O), have significant effects on consumer perceptions and acceptability. Solving unpleasant water T&O episodes in water supplies is challenging, since it requires expertise and know-how in diagnosis, evaluation of impacts and implementation of control measures. We present gaps, challenges and perspectives to advance water T&O science and technology, by identifying key areas in sensory and chemical analysis, risk assessment and water treatment, as articulated by WaterTOP (COST Action CA18225), an interdisciplinary European and international network of researchers, experts, and stakeholders