SPUCS | Software architectures for Secure, Private, User-Controlled Smart devices

Summary
People increasingly depend on their personal smart devices (smartphones, smart watches, voice assistants) to communicate, access information, transact, and perform critical functions. These devices overwhelmingly comprise proprietary software and hardware components made by a handful of non-EU vendors. These vendors have exceptional control over those devices, raising justified concerns over anti-competitive practices, massive data gathering, surveillance, denial of service, and consequently personal freedoms and democracy. Digital sovereignty has been identified as a key political priority for the EU. SPUCS: “software architectures for Secure, Private, and User-Controlled Smart devices” contributes novel privacy-preserving architectures, realizable on existing hardware, that limit the control of vendors on user devices towards a future of open, sovereign personal devices. While previous initiatives for open and privacy-preserving smart devices lacked in functionality and therefore in adoption, SPUCS introduces concepts and methods that enable users to continue using their preferred operating systems and applications in an isolated way, with increased privacy protection. Specifically, the project will contribute secure mechanisms to seamlessly run multiple mobile operating systems simultaneously on a mobile device with strong isolation and privacy guarantees – limiting vendors’ ability to collect and connect data. Furthermore, the project will develop methods for securely running individual applications (phone, messaging, banking) on an open platform without trusting the operating system or proprietary vendor software. Finally, the project will plan an adoption strategy that will boost the scientific and industrial impact of the results towards a secure and self-sovereign Europe. The project also fosters interdisciplinary two-way transfer of knowledge between the researcher and the host, as well as training of the researcher in advanced scientific techniques.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101108713
Start date: 01-02-2024
End date: 31-01-2026
Total budget - Public funding: - 153 486,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

People increasingly depend on their personal smart devices (smartphones, smart watches, voice assistants) to communicate, access information, transact, and perform critical functions. These devices overwhelmingly comprise proprietary software and hardware components made by a handful of non-EU vendors. These vendors have exceptional control over those devices, raising justified concerns over anti-competitive practices, massive data gathering, surveillance, denial of service, and consequently personal freedoms and democracy. Digital sovereignty has been identified as a key political priority for the EU. SPUCS: “software architectures for Secure, Private, and User-Controlled Smart devices” contributes novel privacy-preserving architectures, realizable on existing hardware, that limit the control of vendors on user devices towards a future of open, sovereign personal devices. While previous initiatives for open and privacy-preserving smart devices lacked in functionality and therefore in adoption, SPUCS introduces concepts and methods that enable users to continue using their preferred operating systems and applications in an isolated way, with increased privacy protection. Specifically, the project will contribute secure mechanisms to seamlessly run multiple mobile operating systems simultaneously on a mobile device with strong isolation and privacy guarantees – limiting vendors’ ability to collect and connect data. Furthermore, the project will develop methods for securely running individual applications (phone, messaging, banking) on an open platform without trusting the operating system or proprietary vendor software. Finally, the project will plan an adoption strategy that will boost the scientific and industrial impact of the results towards a secure and self-sovereign Europe. The project also fosters interdisciplinary two-way transfer of knowledge between the researcher and the host, as well as training of the researcher in advanced scientific techniques.

Status

SIGNED

Call topic

HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01-01

Update Date

31-07-2023
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Horizon Europe
HORIZON.1 Excellent Science
HORIZON.1.2 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
HORIZON.1.2.0 Cross-cutting call topics
HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01
HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01-01 MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022