CREST’s overall objective is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of LEAs intelligence, operation, and investigation capabilities, through the automated detection, identification, assessment, fusion, and correlation of evidence acquired from heterogeneous multimodal data streams. Such data streams include (but are not limited to) Surface/Deep/Dark Web and social media sources and interactions, IoT-enabled devices (including wearable sensors), surveillance cameras (static, wearable, or mounted on UxVs), and seized devices and hard disks.

On March 31, 2023, the duration of the project ended. A final conference on February 21 and 22, 2023 provided the audience with an overview of the project. You can read more about this in the following report:

The final two-day conference of the CREST project has been very successful! After the KEMEA organisers started the conference by welcoming all participants both in Athens and online, CREST coordinator Mr. Ovidiu Dumitrache (SPP) and Mr. George Kalpakis (CERTH) who represents the scientific manager of CREST provided the audience with an overview of the project. Mr. Eugen Badea (SPP) and Mr. Ovidiu Dumitrache present the results of the first pilot use case ‘Protection of public figures in motorcades and public spaces’. Then, Mr. Tobias Mattes from BayHfoed provided participants with an overview of the second pilot use case ‘Counter terrorism security in crowded areas’, followed by Ms. Monika Weinbuch (MPD) and Ms. Sylvie Dias (PJ) who presented to the attendees the outputs of the third pilot use case ‘Cross-border fight against organized crime’. Our invited guest Ms. Eva Škruba from the European Anti-Cybercrime Technology Development Association – EACTDA presented the Tools4LEAs project, which constitutes a new exploitation path for security research results. Next, Mr. Jeremy Kespite from Europol took the stand to showcase Europol’s Innovation Labs and the pertinent Repository of Tools. The first day came to an end with presentations of sister projects: ODYSSEUS, STARLIGHT, COUNTER, CTC, and LAW GAME.

The second day kicked off with the Panel Discussion: “Learning from CREST. Best practices, challenges, and limitations”, moderated by Mr. Ovidiu Dumitrache. Panelists Mr. Eugen Badea (SPP) Mr. George Kalpakis (CERTH) Ms. Katerina Polychronopoulos (UNIVIE) Mr. Eddie Schneid (Motorola Solutions Israel Ltd – MSIL) and Mr. Kostas Chaintoutis (Hellenic Police – ELAS) exchanged fruitful insights with the audience. Next, Mr. Levent Altan (Exec. Director, of Victim Support Europe – VSE) talked about “Addressing the needs of victims as a core element of counter-terrorism responses”. This successful two-day Conference closed with the concluding remarks of Mr. Ovidiu Dumitrache (SPP) and Mr. George Kalpakis (CERTH).

More information about the CREST project can be found here.

Source: CREST.EU