After two years and a half of operation as a European funded pilot project, ACDC is shaping its role in the cybersecurity environment in two ways: the ACDC Services and the European Anti-Botnet Support Centre Alliance (EABSCA).
Through the provision of ACDC Services, which will build on the core ACDC infrastructure, and the EABSCA, which will drive exchange and collaboration among anti-botnet support centers the consortium partners will maintain sustainability beyond the end of the project.
Funded under the European CIP-ICT-PSP program 2012, the Advanced Cyber Defense Center (ACDC) project pilot was the European initiative towards improved cooperation and coordination for effective measures against botnets, as well as to increased interoperability and effectiveness of individual cyber security activities in Europe.
The ACDC pilot built on 10 national support centres and 1 clearing house deployed during the project, enlarging the cyber-protection scope beyond botnets. ACDC united a community of 28 organisations from 14 countries, including Internet Service Providers, CERTs, law enforcement agencies, IT providers, National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), academia and critical infrastructure operators.
Its basic concept of broadly sharing cyber threat information among organizations by using common terminology and automation had a clear impact and benefited all stakeholders. By sharing, partners got access to information and tools they otherwise might not have access to. They enhanced their cyber capabilities by leveraging the cyber resources (experiences, knowledge and investments) of their partners.
The list of ACDC-provided software and tools covers:
- device detection and mitigation, systems infections (including XLAB’s Device Monitor application),
- infected websites analysis,
- information sharing platform and other tools.
During the course of the project, ACDC’s partner, XLAB, released the Device Monitor application which provides more mobile network security by monitoring and reporting malicious events Android devices. Device Monitor actively monitors all external communication and alerts the user about hazardous applications with privilege that could leak private data, fake ID exploits, SMS hijacks etc. Its ultimate goal is for enterprise and end users to be able to carry out work without the risk of corporate or personal data leakage.
