PREVISION

Description

• Programme: Horizon 2020, Societal Challenges (Security)
• Funding amount: €8 million, of which €376,000 is allocated to Bavaria
• Funding period: 09/2019–08/2021
• Coordinator: Dr Konstantinos Demestichas, the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS), Greece
• Website: www.prevision-h2020.eu

EU project PREVISION: Open and future-proof platform for digital forensics

Terrorism, organised crime and cybercrime are increasingly intertwined. For instance, terrorists can carry out virtual attacks, physical attacks or a mixture of the two simultaneously. In the complex virtual world, the criminal investigation authorities face enormous challenges. PREVISION aims to develop new solutions to support digital forensics.

The Internet as a crime scene complicates investigations

The increasing digitisation of our society allows cyber criminals to use new technologies and tools such as social media, the Darknet and the Internet of Things (IoT) for criminal activities. The boundaries between terrorism, organised crime and cybercrime are now becoming more blurred. Cybercrime itself is increasingly turning into an organised "Cybercrime-as-a-service" (CaaS) business model. Criminals can now purchase a comprehensive range of tools and technologies to launch an attack without having their own IT skills. This increasingly presents the investigating authorities with the difficulty of identifying suspects, objects or activities as well as the level of threat, in order to prevent criminal activity. While forensic work was carried out at the scene of the crime in the past, investigators now need to document and interpret evidence in complex data streams.

Digital forensics is the future

The EU project PREVISION aims to develop an open and future-proof platform that supports law enforcement authorities in digital forensics. The platform is intended to provide near-real-time analytical support for multiple big data streams coming from social networks, the Internet, the Darknet, CCTV and video surveillance systems, traffic and financial data as well as many other sources. These data will be translated into dynamic and self-learning knowledge graphs that capture structures, interactions and trends in cybercrime. PREVISION will conduct demonstrations on five representative and diverse cases under real-life operating conditions and in full compliance with constitutional rights and applicable legislation.

Twenty-eight interdisciplinary partners from technology, sociology, psychology, linguistics, data sciences and law enforcement agencies from 14 European countries are participating in PREVISION to find a common strategic approach to tackling threats.