Cybersecurity, the results of Spoke 4 of the SERICS project

Failures in the security systems of civil aircraft, but also vulnerabilities in the location protocols of smartphones, which can be exploited to deceive GPS.
These are just some of the discoveries made by researchers from Spoke 4, one of the ten research units of the SERICS (Security and Rights in the Cyberspace) project.
The initiative, set up as part of the PNRR tosupport research into cybersecurity and the protection of digital rights, has found in the SERICS Foundation, chaired by Prof. Vincenzo Loia, the implementer of an extended partnership, composed of 23 public and private entities - research excellences from the academic and industrial worlds - involved in order to realise innovative and sustainable solutions and to generate public value, integrating technical, legal and social aspects.
The activities of Spoke 4 take place at the University of Genoa under the coordination of Prof. Alessandro Armando, who is also the chairman of the SERICS Scientific Committee. The aim is to protect two fundamental components of digital infrastructures - operating systems and virtualisation technologies - through security services and methods to assess their reliability. Many applications, such as the cloud and 5G networks, rely on these elements. When they are compromised, the entire cybersecurity chain is exposed to risk. The solutions developed by the researchers are then tested in the Cyber Ranges, sophisticated virtual environments that allow cyber attacks to be simulated.
The three research projects: ARTIC, SecCo and 5Gsec
The activities of Spoke 4 are divided into three projects:
- ARTIC (Affordable, Reusable and Truly Interoperable Cyber ranges);
- SecCo (Securing Containers);
- 5Gsec (Security in 5G and beyond).
ARTIC aims to make the Cyber Ranges more accessible by reducing the resources needed to realise them. The project has developed a platform to build and improve these infrastructures, releasing a first open source version dedicated to maritime cybersecurity.
Another initiative, SecCo, develops defence systems for cloud applications, based on virtual environments that operate independently. The project has built advanced tools to detect and eliminate vulnerabilities in cloud applications and to verify their execution with advanced monitoring techniques based on artificial intelligence.
The 5Gsec project, on the other hand, focuses on the security of 5G networks, from design to operational configurations. Initial tests have already identified critical errors in numerous real-world networks, enabling proprietary operators to correct them. The programme also develops technologies that go beyond simple defence, such as network slicing, which divides a network into virtual 'slices', each with dedicated security and performance rules.

Air security risks identified by the ARTIC project

In December 2024, a Boeing flying over New York executed an evasive manoeuvre to avoid an approaching aircraft. In reality, the sky was clear: it was a false alarm from the on-board systems. In the following months, other similar incidents occurred on several aircraft bound for Washington.
As discovered by researchers of the ARTIC project in collaboration with the Cyber-Defence Campus in Thun (Switzerland), these anomalies could be linked to a computer vulnerability that allows non-existent aircraft to appear on radar. Another flaw has also emerged, through which the anti-collision mechanisms can be deactivated, although in this case pilots can intervene with appropriate measures.
The results of the ARTIC project were decisive, making it possible to replicate the safety system with which civil aircraft are equipped with extreme precision. After informing the relevant authorities, the discovery was made public and led the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) to publish a bulletin with instructions on how to counter cyber attacks related to these critical issues.
To read more: https://serics.eu