Leonardo to lead "Cyber Trainer" project in the Abruzzo Region of Italy

The “Cyber Trainer” project will see Leonardo lead a group of research institutes, including the Università of L’Aquila, as well as several small/medium companies in the Abruzzo Region. The project was selected through the “Research and Innovation” tender process announced in 2016 and is financed by the Abruzzo Region, with FESR 2014-2020 funds, within the ICT/Aerospace technological domain.
 
The main driver behind this initiative is the current lack of skilled personnel in the field of cyber security and, at the same time, to address the Abruzzo Region’s strategic vision to be one of the key areas in Italy with the expertise in this field, to help create new highly skilled jobs in the region. 

In detail, the project involves the construction of a demonstrator for the simulation of networks, systems and applications in realistic ways, with the aim of facilitating the training of managers and operators of cyber security, both individually and in groups. The demonstrator will simulate attack scenarios, allowing trainers to observe and evaluate the behavior of operators and attackers, while providing users with high flexibility and manageability. It will also be possible to reproduce different types of networks, both civil and military, and the ability to integrate systems that are not otherwise reproducible in the scenarios.
 
The possible fields of application, in addition to training, that will be studied include operational safety scenarios of those industrial segments that are crucial for the economy of the Abruzzo Region, such as the automotive sector, the smart city, energy efficiency and critical infrastructure. At the same time, the project will demonstrate its dual-use applicability through the modelling and experimentation of scenarios of interest to the police and defence forces.
 
In terms of innovation, Cyber Trainer will allow the definition and preparation of test environments for new products, to improve the flexibility of the methods and technologies that are available today, and to provide test environments on specific devices and application domains.
 
The project therefore aims at obtaining exploitable results in many scenarios and in some market segments of the defence and security sector, thanks to the flexibility of the system, across the activities envisaged and the potential application of the IoT (Internet of Things).

Highlights

• The project’s aim is to train people with the skills required to work in the cyber security field. 
•  The innovative training demonstrator will be located at the Leonardo site in Chieti, Leonardo's center of excellence for the protection of information against cyber threats.
•  Important employment benefits are expected in the region, with the creation of highly skilled jobs.