COURAGE (Cybercrime and cyberterrOrism EUropean Research AGEnda), is the 2014 flagship European Commission, Research Executive Agency research project funded under the 7th Framework Programme (Topic SEC-2013.2.5-1). The 2-year grant-funded project commenced during May 2014 and aims to develop a Cyber Crime and Cyber Terrorism research agenda for the European Commission to significantly improve the security of citizens and critical infrastructures and support crime investigators.
Coordinating COURAGE is the European Organisation for Security (EoS) who lead an internationally recognised team of experts and organisations who are able to draw together their insights into cybercrime and cyber-terrorism through established foundations of research and scholarship. As part of the COURAGE consortium of partners and advisors, 17 individual countries are represented, including leading centres of academic and industrial research, as well as unique high-level security agencies including; United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) (Italy): Cybercrime Research Institute (Denmark); Organisatie voor toegepast natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek (Netherlands); Totalförsvarets forskningsinstitut (Sweden);
Engineering Ingegneria Informatica (Italy); THALES (France); Europol; Eurojust; RAND (Europe & US); NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.
The COURAGE approach builds on three primary pillars as follows;
User-centric methodology to identify gaps, challenges and barriers based on real-world needs and experiences
Analytical and semantic approach, to deliver a taxonomy and create a common understanding of the subject with all stakeholders.
Competitive and market oriented approach to foster practical implementations of countermeasures using effective test and validation solutions.
The ground breaking research of COURAGE shall serve to inform and establish the European Commission research agenda for cyber crime and cyber terrorism, bridging the gap between cyber research and operational front-line realties. The multi-disciplinary research of COURAGE represents innovation in policing research to tackle the most pressing contemporary security challenges.