Z&P’s Alessandro Bonzio participated to the ACXIS/BODEGA/C-BORD/CORE/SOURCE Joint Exploitation Event in Paris

Mr. Alessandro Bonzio has represented Zanasi & Partners and the BODEGA project consortium at the Joint Exploitation Event, carried out in Paris, at the Institut de la Gestion Publique et du Développement Économique – IGPDE (Ministère de l’Économie et des Finances) on the 19th May 2017.

Mr. Bonzio has delivered a speech exploring the exploitation potential of the activities carried out by Zanasi & Partners within the BODEGA project, with a special focus on a solution for early detection of high-risk travellers. Building on the research carried out during the project, Z&P has enriched its advisory portfolio with a new set of services specifically aimed at supporting the design of risk assessment software that meets the operational as well as the human factor needs of border control officers.

ACXIS, BODEGA, C-BORD, CORE, SOURCE Joint Exploitation Event (Paris, 19th May 2017)

On the 19th of May 2017, Zanasi & Partners will represent the BODEGA consortium during a Joint Exploitation Event that will see the participation of representatives from 5 EC-funded security research initiatives:

• ACXIS (Automated Comparison of X-ray Images for Cargo Scanning);
• BODEGA (Proactive enhancement of human performance in border control);
• C-BORD (Effective Container inspection at BORDer control points);
• CORE;
• SOURCE (Societal security network).

The event will take place in Paris, at the Institut de la Gestion Publique et du Développement Économique – IGPDE (Ministère de l’Économie et des Finances, 20 allée Georges Pompidou, 94306 Vincennes – map), starting at 9:00AM (registration since 8:30AM).

Registration for the event is required. Attendees should confirm their participation on the Community Management Tool (CMT):

1. Register to the CMT (follow this link and please include your first name and last name for the field “display name”)
2. Join the group “C-BORD Community”
3. Register to the meeting: https://www.eurtd.com/cmt/events/event/view/8234/acxis-bodega-c-bord-core-source-joint-exploitation-event

A draft agenda of the event can be found here.

ECSO (European Cyber Security Organisation) – working group 4 meeting in Rome, 15th May 2017

On the next 15th of May, on the premises of University of Rome “La Sapienza”‘s DIS (in via Ariosto, 25), it will be hosted an event organised by ECSO (European Cyber Security Organisation) and dedicated to the world of Italian SMEs.

Since the beginning, ECSO has recognised the strategic role played by SMEs within the cyber security ecosystem. Because of that it was decided to create a dedicated Working Group (WG4), which aims at proposing concrete actions, at the EU-level, that could help the development of SMEs.

On the next 15th of May, also thanks to the support provided by MISE, a meeting of the WG4 (also open to representatives from Italian companies non-members of ECSO) will take place in Rome.

The objectives of the meeting are threefold:

• to deepen the awareness about SME needs (both in terms of managing cyber risks and for what concerns access to the market);
• to present the work in progress in ECSO and, in particular, a white paper on the SME positioning related to strategic market themes (certification/labelling, R&D funding, training, private investment, regional approach), which is currently being finalised;
• to investigate possible synergies with local actors.

The draft agenda of the event is available here.

To register, please fill in the registration form.

Radicalization in Europe. Media, social media and prevention narratives mid-term workshop of SAFFRON (Semantic Analysis against Foreign Fighters Recruitment Online Network)

Download the agenda here.

Zanasi & Partners participated to the SOTERIA final exercise at Barreiro, Portugal

On the 23rd of February 2017, Dr. Fabio Ruini and Mr. Daniele Pinotti, on behalf of Zanasi & Partners, took part in Barreiro, Portugal at the final exercise of the SOTERIA project.

SOTERIA (Proactive Enhancement of Human Performance in Border Control) is a three-year research effort funded by the European Commission under the FP7 programme. Its aim is innovate citizens’ and public safety organisations’ approach to communication during emergency situations, with a particular emphasis on incorporating all communications channels available, including social media, for the reciprocal benefit of all the parties involved.

The final exercise, organised by Tekever (coordinator of the SOTERIA project) and by Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR), and attended by representatives from several Portuguese public safety organisations, consisted in the simulation of three different emergency situations:

• the collapse of a building, following an earthquake, with people trapped under the debris;
• an incident inside a chemical factory, with contamination of workers;
• a car accident resulted with people fallen into a river.

During the simulations, participants in the exercise were actively using social media platforms to communicate about the different emergencies unfolding. The SOTERIA team, from inside a military tent equipped for acting as control centre, tested the software tools developed during the project, capable of gathering social media posts, filter and analyse them, and then pass the relevant information to the organisations in charge of the emergency response.

The final exercise represented a valuable opportunity for the SOTERIA consortium to further test the software tools developed throughout the project and gather feedback

For more information, please visit the SOTERIA project website.

Countering radicalisation: the European Commission funds the TRIVALENT research project

PRESS RELEASE

Countering radicalisation: the European Commission funds the TRIVALENT research project

Modena (MO), January 16^th 2017 – The European Commission has officially approved the funding of the security research project TRIVALENT, aimed at countering radicalisation and violent extremism.

Threats to European security increasingly come from single individuals who reside in Member States’ territory, undertaking a path of radicalisation which ultimately leads to violent extremism. This is a very hot topic nowadays in the light of what happened only a few weeks ago at Berlin’s Christmas markets. The attacker, Anis Amri, was found to have radicalised during his previous time in Italian jail and to have turned from a petty criminal into a bloodthirsty assassin. As recently stated by Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and Interior Minister Marco Minniti, counter-terrorism efforts must focus on prisons, as they provide fertile ground for the propagation of extremist ideologies and thus constitute a dangerous hotbed for security threats.

The research project TRIVALENT (Terrorism pReventIon Via rAdicaLisation countEr-NarraTive), funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020’s ‘Secure societies’ research programme, aims to identify, also by means of big data analytics and text mining techniques, the distinguishing features of radicalisation processes taking place in European countries. Particular attention will be devoted, during the project, to the analysis of radicalising narratives and their diffusion methods as a step towards the elaboration of different types of counter-measures, including the production of dedicated counter-narratives.

The project, which will last for 36 months and will rely on a budget of more than € 2.5 millions, will be coordinated by Università degli Studi Roma Tre and will see the participation of 20 public/private European entities as well as an Israeli research centre. A large number of law-enforcement agencies will take part in the project, distributed between national (Italian, Albanian, Polish and Latvian) and local (Turin, Madrid, Danzig, Voorkempen and Radom) bodies. The presence of law-enforcement agencies, including penitentiary police bodies, will allow the researchers to investigate radicalisation processes occurring within European prisons. This will help project partners gain a better understanding of the phenomenon and develop more effective tools for countering it compared to those available today.

Zanasi & Partners (Z&P) is a research, advisory and training company specialised in security and intelligence.

Z&P has participated in several international projects funded by the European Commission, aiming to define solutions to hot security issues: terrorism and surveillance, cyber-security, cyber-intelligence, big data analytics (data/text mining), social media monitoring, risk and threat assessment, border control.

Active in Europe, Middle-East and North Africa, its main clients include: European Space Agency (ESA), Italian Aerospace Research Centre (CIRA), European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA), European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX), Siemens AG, Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso, Booz&Co, Eurispes, ICSA Foundation, DigitPA, Ministry of Economy and Finance and Ministry of Economic Development of Italy, Ministry of Interior of Saudi Arabia, Ministry of Transport of Algeria, Ministry of Justice of Romania.

For further information, please visit: https://www.zanasi-alessandro.eu

COMUNICATO STAMPA

Contrasto alla radicalizzazione: la Commissione Europea finanzia il progetto di ricerca TRIVALENT

Modena (MO), 16 gennaio 2017 – la Commissione Europea ha ufficialmente approvato il finanziamento del progetto di ricerca in materia di sicurezza TRIVALENT, dedicato al contrasto alla radicalizzazione ed all’estremismo violento.

Sempre più spesso le minacce alla sicurezza del continente provengono da singoli individui, residenti sul territorio nazionale, che intraprendono un percorso di radicalizzazione che li conduce fino all’estremismo violento. La tematica risulta quanto mai attuale alla luce di quanto accaduto solo poche settimane fa ai mercatini di Natale di Berlino, con l’autore della strage, Anis Amri, radicalizzatosi durante la sua permanenza nelle carceri italiane e trasformatosi da delinquente di basso livello a sanguinario stragista. Come di recente espresso dal Presidente del Consiglio Paolo Gentiloni e dal Ministro dell’Interno Marco Minniti è proprio sulle carceri che occorre concentrarsi, in quanto luogo particolarmente favorevole al propagarsi di ideologie estremiste e quindi pericoloso focolaio di minacce per la sicurezza.

Il progetto TRIVALENT (Terrorism pReventIon Via rAdicaLisation countEr-NarraTive), finanziato dalla Commissione Europea mediante il programma di supporto alla ricerca in materia di sicurezza “Secure Societies” di Horizon 2020, si pone l’obiettivo di individuare, anche attraverso il ricorso a tecniche di big data analytics e text mining, quelli che sono gli elementi caratterizzanti del processo di radicalizzazione nei Paesi europei, con particolare attenzione rivolta alle narrative radicalizzanti ed alle loro modalità di diffusione, per poi elaborare misure di vario genere per contrastarlo, inclusa la produzione di apposite contro-narrative.

Il progetto, che avrà una durata di 36 mesi e potrà contare su un budget di oltre 2,5 milioni di euro, sarà coordinato dall’Università degli Studi Roma Tre e vedrà coinvolti complessivamente 20 enti pubblico/privati europei ed un centro di ricerca israeliano. Le forze dell’ordine vi sono rappresentate in gran numero, distribuite tra forze di polizia nazionali (polizia italiana, albanese, polacca e lettone; polizia penitenziaria italiana e portoghese) e locali (Torino, Madrid, Danzica, Voorkempen e Radom). Proprio la presenza di forze di polizia, incluse le polizie penitenziarie, consentirà ai ricercatori di investigare i processi di radicalizzazione che avvengono all’interno delle carceri europee al fine di migliorarne la comprensione e sviluppare strumenti di contrasto maggiormente efficaci rispetto a quelli oggi disponibili.

Zanasi & Partners (Z&P) è una società di ricerca, consulenza e formazione in materia di sicurezza ed intelligence.

Ha partecipato a decine di progetti internazionali finanziati dalla Commissione Europea, diretti a definire soluzioni ai temi caldi della sicurezza: terrorismo e sorveglianza, cyber-security, cyber-intelligence, Big Data analytics (data/text mining), social media monitoring, risk e threat assessment, border control.

Attiva in Europa, Medio Oriente e Nord Africa, tra i clienti più importanti: European Space Agency (ESA), Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali (CIRA), European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA), European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX), Siemens AG, Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso, Booz&Co, Eurispes, Fondazione ICSA, DigitPA, Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze e Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico italiani, Ministero dell’Interno saudita, Ministero dei Trasporti algerino, Ministero della Giustizia rumeno, Ufficio Federale per le Soluzioni Tecniche del governo belga.

Per ulteriori informazioni visitare: https://www.zanasi-alessandro.eu

Zanasi & Partners joins ECSO

Press release

Zanasi & Partners joins ECSO

Modena (MO), Italy, 4 November 2016 – Zanasi & Partners is proud to announce that, as of today, it has become a full member of the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO).

Founded in 2016, ECSO brings together the key stakeholders from the European cyber security sector. The main objective of ECSO is to support all types of initiatives or projects that aim to develop, promote, encourage European cybersecurity, with particular emphasis on:

• Foster and protect from cyber threats the growth of the European Digital Single Market;
• Develop the cybersecurity market in Europe and the growth of a competitive cybersecurity and ICT industry, with an increased market position;
• Develop and implement cybersecurity solutions for the critical steps of trusted supply chains, in sectoral applications where Europe is a leader.

‘Cyber threats constitute one of the most serious issues Europe is facing today’ – said Alessandro ZANASI, President of Zanasi & Partners, who also reminded – ‘our economy is heavily dependent on interconnected computer networks: communications, financial transactions, monitoring and management of critical infrastructure… everything depends on the correct functioning of those networks’.

‘Cyber espionage, as demonstrated by the discovery of the ECHELON system earlier and by Snowden’s revelations later, is common practice which costs targeted companies billions of dollars. Worldwide, according to a recent study by Forbes, the costs due to cybercrime activities are expected to reach $2 trillion by 2019’ Zanasi claimed.

 ‘Joining ECSO represents a great opportunity for us’ – concluded Zanasi – ‘as it will give a further boost to our already active involvement in the European cybersecurity scene. It will allow us to create new synergies with the leading cyber security European organisations and this, in turn, will translate into new opportunities for jointly undertaking research activities and developing state-of-the-art services that we will be able to provide to our clients’.

More information on ECSO are available at: http://www.ecs-org.eu