University of Cyprus

At the end of April, our partner, the University of Cyprus, hosted a dedicated session on the R2D2 project, focusing on Reliability, Resilience, and Defense Technology for the Grid. The session took place as part of the 3rd ECSCI (European Cluster for Securing Critical Infrastructures) Workshop on Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience.

This event provided a valuable opportunity to showcase the project’s progress in the area of secure and resilient energy systems, as well as its potential for real-world implementation.

The workshop brought together experts and projects working on integrated cyber and physical security across a range of critical sectors, including energy, transport, water supply and wastewater, healthcare, digital infrastructure, finance, space, and public administration. Each sector’s unique challenges in infrastructure protection were explored through the lens of participating projects from the ECSCI cluster, which shared their findings and addressed the technical, ethical, and societal dimensions of resilience and defense technologies.

Specifically, novel techniques were presented for integrated security modelling, IoT security, AI for securing critical infrastructures, distributed ledger technologies for secure information sharing, and automation for threat detection, prevention, and mitigation. Special attention was also given to how AI technologies can enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure.

The workshop featured keynote speeches, project presentations, roundtable and panel discussions, and thematic sessions. It was designed for a multidisciplinary audience, including researchers, cybersecurity and physical security professionals, industry stakeholders, and policymakers involved in safeguarding critical infrastructures across Europe.

On April 29, 2025, R2D2 will take part in the 3rd ECSCI (European Cluster for Securing Critical Infrastructures) Workshop on Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience. This year’s edition will focus on advancing the conversation around integrated strategies to protect modern critical infrastructures (CI) from increasingly complex and coordinated cyber-physical threats.

R2D2 hosts the session “Reliability, Resilience and Defense Technology for the Grid,” led by Mathaios Panteli from the University of Cyprus, which explores innovative technologies and approaches to strengthen the resilience of energy systems.

As critical infrastructures become more interconnected and interdependent, spanning sectors like energy, water, healthcare, transportation, digital systems, finance, and public administration, their exposure to hybrid attacks has grown significantly. Traditional methods that treat cybersecurity and physical security as separate challenges are no longer sufficient. There is a growing need for integrated protection strategies that address the interactions and cascading effects of cyber-physical attacks.

The workshop will bring together leading projects from across the ECSCI cluster to share their findings and solutions. Discussions will cover:

• Integrated security modelling
• IoT and AI applications for infrastructure security
• Use of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) for secure information sharing
• Automation for threat detection and mitigation

The event will feature keynote speeches, project presentations, roundtable and panel discussions, and thematic sessions, providing a rich platform for cross-sector exchange. Attendees include scientists, security experts, CISOs, CIOs, CSIRTs, policy makers, and representatives from various critical infrastructure sectors.

By participating, R2D2 continues to contribute to shaping the future of secure and resilient infrastructures in Europe.

Register now here.