A security analysis of email communications

The objective of this report is to analyse the security and privacy risks of email communications and identify technical countermeasures capable of mitigating them effectively. In order to do so, the report analyses from a technical point of view the core set of communication protocols and standards that support email communications in order to identify and understand the existing security and privacy vulnerabilities. On the basis of this analysis, the report identifies and analyses technical countermeasures, in the form of newer standards, protocols and tools, aimed at ensuring a better protection of the security and privacy of email communications. The practical implementation of each countermeasure is evaluated in order to understand its limitations and identify potential technical and organisational constrains that could limit its effectiveness in practice. The outcome of the above mentioned analysis is a set of recommendations regarding technical and organisational measures that when combined properly have the potential of more effectively mitigating the privacy and security risks of today's email communications.JRC.G.6-Digital Citizen Securit

Robustness and Explainability of Artificial Intelligence

In the light of the recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), the serious negative consequences of its use for EU citizens and organisations have led to multiple initiatives from the European Commission to set up the principles of a trustworthy and secure AI. Among the identified requirements, the concepts of robustness and explainability of AI systems have emerged as key elements for a future regulation of this technology. This Technical Report by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) aims to contribute to this movement for the establishment of a sound regulatory framework for AI, by making the connection between the principles embodied in current regulations regarding to the cybersecurity of digital systems and the protection of data, the policy activities concerning AI, and the technical discussions within the scientific community of AI, in particular in the field of machine learning, that is largely at the origin of the recent advancements of this technology. The individual objectives of this report are to provide a policy-oriented description of the current perspectives of AI and its implications in society, an objective view on the current landscape of AI, focusing of the aspects of robustness and explainability. This also include a technical discussion of the current risks associated with AI in terms of security, safety, and data protection, and a presentation of the scientific solutions that are currently under active development in the AI community to mitigate these risks. This report puts forward several policy-related considerations for the attention of policy makers to establish a set of standardisation and certification tools for AI. First, the development of methodologies to evaluate the impacts of AI on society, built on the model of the Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) introduced in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is discussed. Secondly, a focus is made on the establishment of methodologies to assess the robustness of systems that would be adapted to the context of use. This would come along with the identification of known vulnerabilities of AI systems, and the technical solutions that have been proposed in the scientific community to address them. Finally, the promotion of transparency systems in sensitive systems is discussed, through the implementation of explainability-by-design approaches in AI components that would provide guarantee of the respect of the fundamental rights.JRC.E.3-Cyber and Digital Citizens' Securit

My Email Communications Security Assessment (MECSA): 2018 Results

This JRC technical report presents the results obtained by the My Email Communications Security Assessment (MECSA) tool. MECSA is an online1 tool developed by the Joint Research Centre to assess the security of email communications between email providers. Email communications continue to be one of the most widespread forms of digital communications with thousands of millions of emails exchanged on a daily basis. It is estimated that 72% of the European population use email either in mobile phones, tablets or computers. It is the means of digital communication used by most Europeans on a daily basis (Special Eurobarometer 462, 2017. Published July 2018.) MECSA is the outcome of our research on the security of email communications. It servers a triple purpose. Firstly, it allows us to monitor the adoption of modern email security standards in the current ecosystem of email providers, assessing their capability to protect the confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of the email exchange amongst them. Secondly, MECSA aims to become a one-stop shop for email users to receive an indication of the capability of their email providers to protect their email exchange in the communication with other providers of the ecosystem. Finally, MECSA aims to become a reference tool for professionals and a mean to promote the adoption of modern email security standards in Europe.JRC.E.3-Cyber and Digital Citizens' Securit

Privacy safeguards and online anonymity

In a world that is increasingly more connected, digital citizens, actively or passively accept to transmit information, part of which are “personal data”. This information is often collected and elaborated by third parties to infer further knowledge about users. The act of gathering the data is commonly called “tracking” and can be performed through several means. The act of analysing and processing those data and relate them to the individual is called “profiling”. The aim of this JRC Technical report is to be an instrument of support for the Digital Citizens to help them to protect and to manage their privacy during online activities. After a brief introduction in Chapter 1, the following chapter is dedicated to the description of two legitimate use-cases to track and profile users on-line, namely target advertising and personalisation of the user experience. Chapter 3 and 4 identify and analyse the set of techniques currently used by online digital providers to track citizens and profile them based on their online behaviour. Chapter 5 deals with some of the available tools cited in chapter 6 that could be helpful to protect the privacy while browsing online. Chapter 6 aims to raise awareness among users and provide some guidelines to address specific issues related to privacy through a multidisciplinary approach. The report concludes highlighting the importance of raising awareness among digital users and empower them through education, technical and legal tools, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to overcome possible privacy issues.JRC.E.3-Cyber and Digital Citizens' Securit

Cyber Chronix - Episode 1 - Finding Data

Cyber Chronix is a game raising awareness on privacy risks and data protection rights in the new European General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR). The GDPR applies as of 25 May 2018 and it aims to better protect the privacy and personal data of citizens. But what does it mean for your every day life? Join Lizard and his friends in this adventure and discover it! From our previous work with the Happy Onlife toolkit, it emerged that the versatility of the toolkit in its paper and digital versions is an added value to the learning and citizen engagement process. To meet paper-oriented gamer’s needs, in addition to the Cyber Chronix digital version, we developed a comic strip version . The choice of a traditional comic-booklet aim at supporting users less familiar with digital technologies and those schools and communities not equipped with digital infrastructures. While enhancing the knowledge sharing and facilitating adult mediation, adults can enter into the game-story and feel confident straight away, at the same level as the children. The comic strip is now available in English and it will be soon available in other languages. Italian and French translations are ready, other languages (e.g. Greek, Portogues, Romanian, Spanish) are also foreseen.JRC.E.3-Cyber and Digital Citizens' Securit

Cyber Chronix - Episódio 1 - Obtenção de dados

O Cyber Chronix é um jogo de sensibilização dos riscos para a privacidade e dos direitos de proteção de dados constantes do novo Regulamento Geral de Proteção de Dados (RGPD) europeu. O RGPD é aplicável desde 25 de maio de 2018. Destina-se a proteger melhor a privacidade e os dados pessoais dos cidadãos. Mas o que é que isto significa para a tua vida quotidiana? Junta-te ao Iggy e aos seus amigos en esta aventura e descobre! Livro de banda desenhada.JRC.E.3-Cyber and Digital Citizens' Securit

Cognitive Reserve Characteristics and Occupational Performance Implications in People with Mild Cognitive Impairment

The Cognitive Reserve hypothesis suggests that there are individual differences in the ability to cope with the pathologic changes in Alzheimer’s Disease. The proportion of elderly individuals has increased in recent years; this increase emphasizes the importance of early detection of mild cognitive impairment and the promotion of healthy ageing. The purpose of our study is to characterize cognitive reserve and occupational performance implications in people with mild cognitive impairment. 125 patients with mild cognitive impairment were enrolled. The Montreal Cognitive Assessments (MoCA) was used to evaluate cognitive status and the Cognitive Reserve Index Questionnaire (CRIq) as an indicator of cognitive reserve. Higher level of education was associated with higher MoCA scores (r = 0.290, p = 0.001). Positive significant correlations were observed between MoCA and total CRIq (r = 0.385, p < 0.001) as well as its three sub-domains, education (r = 0.231, p = 0.010), working activity (r = 0.237, p = 0.008) and leisure time (r = 0.319, p < 0.001). This study findings provide the importance of considering socio-behavioral factors in cognitive status. This research helps to describe the importance of engaging occupationally along the whole life-course as a potential protective factor in ageing, and includes a perspective of occupational therapy regarding the hypothesis of cognitive reserve.Depto. de EnfermeríaFac. de Enfermería, Fisioterapia y PodologíaTRUEpu

SALMANTICOR study. Rationale and design of a population-based study to identify structural heart disease abnormalities: a spatial and machine learning analysis

[EN]Introduction: This study aims to obtain data on the prevalence and incidence of structural heart disease in a population setting and, to analyse and present those data on the application of spatial and machine learning methods that, although known to geography and statistics, need to become used for healthcare research and for political commitment to obtain resources and support effective public health programme implementation. Methods and analysis: We will perform a cross-sectional survey of randomly selected residents of Salamanca (Spain). 2400 individuals stratified by age and sex and by place of residence (rural and urban) will be studied. The variables to analyse will be obtained from the clinical history, different surveys including social status, Mediterranean diet, functional capacity, ECG, echocardiogram, VASERA and biochemical as well as genetic analysis. Ethics and dissemination: The study has been approved by the ethical committee of the healthcare community. All study participants will sign an informed consent for participation in the study. The results of this study will allow the understanding of the relationship between the different influencing factors and their relative importance weights in the development of structural heart disease

Critical COPD respiratory illness is linked to increased transcriptomic activity of neutrophil proteases genes

BACKGROUND: Gene expression profiling (GEP) in cells obtained from peripheral blood has shown that this is a very useful approach for biomarker discovery and for studying molecular pathogenesis of prevalent diseases. While there is limited literature available on gene expression markers associated with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), the transcriptomic picture associated with critical respiratory illness in this disease is not known at the present moment. FINDINGS: By using Agilent microarray chips, we have profiled gene expression signatures in the whole blood of 28 COPD patients hospitalized with different degrees of respiratory compromise.12 of them needed of admission to the ICU, whilst 16 were admitted to the Respiratory Medicine Service. GeneSpring GX 11.0 software was used for performing statistical comparisons of transcript levels between ICU and non-ICU patients. Ingenuity pathway analysis 8.5 (IPA) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were used to select, annotate and visualize genes by function and pathway (gene ontology). T-test showed evidence of 1501 genes differentially expressed between ICU and non-ICU patients. IPA and KEGG analysis of the most representative biological functions revealed that ICU patients had increased levels of neutrophil gene transcripts, being [cathepsin G (CTSG)], [elastase, neutrophil expressed (ELANE)], [proteinase 3 (PRTN3)], [myeloperoxidase (MPO)], [cathepsin D (CTSD)], [defensin, alpha 3, neutrophil-specific (DEFA3)], azurocidin 1 (AZU1)], and [bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI)] the most representative ones. Proteins codified by these genes form part of the azurophilic granules of neutrophils and are involved in both antimicrobial defence and tissue damage. This “neutrophil signature” was paralleled by the necessity of advanced respiratory and vital support, and the presence of bacterial infection. CONCLUSION: Study of transcriptomic signatures in blood suggests an essential role of neutrophil proteases in COPD patients with critical respiratory illness. Measurement and modulation of the expression of these genes could present an option for clinical monitoring and treatment of severe COPD exacerbations