Digital interconnectedness leads to information and communication infrastructures being increasingly misused by criminals, terrorists, intelligence services or for the purposes of power politics. New security technologies and cyber defence concepts are being examined to identify threats at an early stage and to increase resilience to them in cyberspace.

Having the right information of the right quality at the right time is essential for operational command and control. Expertise is developed so as to be able to assess the latest information systems and architectures in view of the increasing volume, speed and heterogeneity of data from cyberspace (the big data problem).

Modern analytical processes mean that data from a range of sensors and sources of information have to be combined and presented in a uniform context. Activities focus on new semantic and probabilistic ways of fusing and visualizing information so as to keep track of the situation and issue alerts.

Acquiring information from publicly accessible sources in cyberspace offers fresh opportunities but also involves significant risks. New procedures for acquiring information will be examined and various approaches evaluated so that the interests and the identity of the people searching for information can be better protected.

Analysing information from social media presents novel technical and analytical challenges. A demonstrator is being developed at S+T to investigate and present in a simple way technologies and procedures for acquiring information from, analysing and visualizing data obtained from social media.