Advanced Cyber Defense Center - ACDC
eco – The German Association of the Internet Industry, together with 28 partners from 14 European countries, has launched an Advanced Cyber Defence Centre (ACDC) project to combat one of the biggest internet security threats: botnets. It is currently estimated that one in five computers is part of a botnet, which cybercriminals use to infect end-user computers with malware and gain remote access. Kicking off in February in Frankfurt, the association will begin its work as the coordinator of the Advanced Cyber Defence Centre (ACDC), which is supported by the European Union. The project will offer a full range of services to enhance cyber security, from malware recognition to prevention. The campaign partners include major public network providers, software producers, scientific institutions, law enforcement and administrative bodies, banks, and certification authorities.
The Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNET is an equal partner in this important Pan-European project in which it participates with three of its departments: the National CERT Department, the Department for Service Development, and the Office of the CEO (Office for Administration and Management of Special Programmes).
Working together in the EU to combat botnets as the basic platform for attacking public information systems is the key activity for achieving a satisfactory security level on the internet. CARNET has been involved in this pan-European project from its earliest phase. CARNET's participation in the project will enable more efficient combat against botnets in the Republic of Croatia, thus facilitating new information and technologies within CARNET.
The Advanced Cyber Defence Center is an important building block for the EU's cyber security strategy. ACDC is the first initiative launched in the context of the EU Cyber Security Strategy. This project will improve the protection of EU networks and systems against botnets and malware.
At the center of the EU pilot project is the Clearing House, which receives reports from project partners on security issues such as spam campaigns in their networks, stolen data, or DDoS attacks. Affected parties, like end users, mobile phone providers, banks, providers of security solutions, and hosting providers, are then informed of the incidents and receive support via the central website www.botfree.eu from national support centers to remove the malware. The support centers are intended to offer the necessary downloadable tools. Furthermore, small and mid-sized companies receive support if their websites are infected with malware.
In addition, the Advanced Cyber Defence Center is committed to identifying infected websites and removing malware programs. Participating providers will also detect anomalies in their networks, botnets in the cloud, and within mobile networks and report them to the Clearing House.
The pilot project has a total budget of 16 million Euros and is intended to run for an initial period of 30 months. It is a CIP-PSP funded pilot action, Grant agreement no. 325188. Further information is available at press@carnet.hr.