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CUSTODES

A Certification approach for dynamic, agile and reUSable assessmenT fOr composite systems of ICT proDucts, servicEs, and processeS

Julie Arteza

01 October 2023

30 September 2026

EC funded project

Cybersecurity certification as introduced by the EU Cybersecurity Act (EUCSA) will play a crucial role in increasing the trust to and security of ICT Products, ICT Services and ICT Processes. Cybersecurity certification is a complex process, posing a variety of challenges to the different interested parties.

This proposal introduces the CUSTODES, a system comprised of a variety of components with the aim to provide trustworthy, cost-effective, agile and portable conformity assessment capabilities, to a variety of interested parties, covering multiple Assurance levels of Composite ICT products or ICT services.

The CUSTODES system will discover and translate certification information of the Building Blocks of the composite ICT products or Services under evaluation, will provide Certification information to the interested parties and will share information on newly identified vulnerabilities related to the specific blocks or composite products as needed increasing transparency, re-usability and trust. It will also utilize a Restricted & Trusted Execution (RTE) Environment, to ensure the chain of custody of the product under assessment.

CUSTODES will be validated in three pilots, a) one of two Class I composite products with digital elements, b) one of an ICT product with an embedded AI component and c) a final one of the as-a-service functionality through EIT Digital extensive digital ecosystem.

The CUSTODES project is built on a collaboration of 17 organisations from 11 EU member states and third countries. The Consortium which includes 3 Conformity Assessment Organizations is composed by 10 SMEs, 3 large industry partners, 2 research organizations, and 2 public organizations/associations. The Consortium is led by RISE which has extensive experience in national and European research projects, and numerous collaborations with industrial partners.