Working with eleven international entities, CaixaBank has formed a European research consortium to explore ways to improve cybersecurity by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and big data. The project, AI4CYBER, is part of the Horizon Europe programme for research and innovation, funded by the European Union.
Over the next three years, CaixaBank has teamed up with Tecnalia,the coordinating committee of the project, the University of Western Macedonia, Thales, Frontedart, Public Power Corporation, ITTI, Hospital do Espírito Santo de Évora, Montimage, Search-Lab, the European Organisation for Security and PDMFC to study new ways of tackling cybersecurity challenges, focusing particularly on the opportunities and risks involved in applying artificial intelligence.
The AI4CYBER consortium's key objective is to design new cybersecurity services to help understand, detect and analyse cyberattacks, as well as prepare critical systems to withstand them. Its results will be aimed at helping system developers and operators to effectively manage security, resilience, including their improved capacity to adapt to adverse situations with positive results, and a dynamic response to advanced cyberattacks.
CaixaBank's main role in the project is to lead the pilot case for testing solutions developed to protect its infrastructure and prevent fraud. As a result of CaixaBank’s participation, AI4CYBER's developments will be tested in a real-life environment of a financial institution. This will allow the participants to study the benefits of the new solutions in terms of incident response times and improve models for detecting anomalies in behavioural patterns.
European research projects
In addition to this consortium, CaixaBank has participated in other European projects part of the Horizon 2020 programme, with almost €80 billion of EU funding over seven years (2014-2020). The European Commission's current funding framework for research and innovation, Horizon Europe, has €95.51 billion available for the 2021-2027 period, and its objective is to guarantee that Europe produces top-tier science and breaks down the barriers to innovation.
CaixaBank has been able to partake in ten winning consortia in recent years, and it has received funding of more than €2.5 million for technological innovation and cybersecurity.
CaixaBank's participation in these projects reaffirms its position as an R&D leader in the financial sector, especially in terms of information security. Furthermore, being part of these international consortia provides the entity with greater coordination in the ongoing improvement of its cybersecurity environment as well as that of the financial sector in general.
Cybersecurity, a strategic priority
Cybersecurity is a priority for CaixaBank, which has rolled out a cybersecurity ecosystem with specialist teams and advanced technology infrastructure to protect digital transactions from security incidents.
The bank invests continuously in new technology in order to meet customer demands, guarantee their growth, adapt to emerging business needs and provide access to information around the clock. As a result, its infrastructure is entirely adapted to the needs of financial management and services to customers.
CaixaBank is a pioneer in security research and coordination, with measures such as creating a specialised group for responding to IT security incidents, and a centre that coordinates the overall security of the whole Group. In addition, it is a member of the main cybersecurity research and collaboration international forums.
