The SECASSURED project is joining forces with five other European research projects through the CyberAI Trust Cluster (CAITC), a collaborative initiative bringing together EU-funded projects working at the intersection of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and digital trust.

On 23 September 2026, representatives from the six participating projects — SECASSURED, ATHENA, CCAT, SecQDevOps, PERUN and SHASAI — came together for the cluster’s first joint meeting. The meeting provided an opportunity for the projects to introduce their objectives and activities, explore complementary areas of research and identify opportunities for future cooperation.

Building Synergies Across European Cybersecurity Research

The CyberAI Trust Cluster provides a framework for the participating projects to exchange knowledge and experience, identify technical and research synergies, and increase the collective impact of their results across the European cybersecurity community.

The projects bring together complementary expertise in areas including AI-supported cybersecurity, security assurance, vulnerability assessment, cybersecurity certification, secure software and hardware engineering, quantum-related security and protection against emerging cyber threats.

For SECASSURED, participation in the cluster closely complements the project’s work on assurance-driven security engineering and AI-supported security services. SECASSURED develops methods, tools and security services designed to provide continuous assurance throughout the lifecycle of complex digital systems.

Through the cluster, SECASSURED will be able to exchange experience with related European initiatives, explore opportunities for technical cooperation and contribute its expertise in continuous security assurance and trustworthy security engineering.

From Dialogue to Joint Activities

The first meeting marked the beginning of an ongoing collaboration between the six projects. Future cooperation is expected to include knowledge exchange, joint dissemination and communication activities, participation in conferences and workshops, stakeholder engagement, and exploration of technical and research synergies.

The cluster also provides an opportunity to coordinate activities addressing broader European priorities related to trustworthy AI, cybersecurity resilience, certification, standardisation and regulatory compliance.

By bringing together complementary European research initiatives, the CyberAI Trust Cluster aims to strengthen cooperation and help translate individual project results into broader impact.

For SECASSURED, joining CAITC represents another important step towards building connections across the European cybersecurity research community and contributing to a common objective: more secure, resilient and trustworthy digital systems.

How can digital care solutions become not only smarter, but also secure, trustworthy and resilient?

This important question was part of the discussion at the SilverEco & Ageing Well International Festival, held in Cannes on 14–15 September 2026, where SECASSURED project partner Tellu represented the project.

The international event brought together stakeholders working on innovative technologies, services and solutions for ageing populations and the transformation of health and care services. As digital technologies become increasingly integrated into healthcare and ageing care, ensuring their security, reliability and trustworthiness is becoming an essential part of this transformation.

Bringing SECASSURED to the SilverEco community

Throughout the event, visitors to the Tellu stand had the opportunity to learn more about SECASSURED, with project brochures on display and members of the Tellu team available to introduce the project and discuss its objectives.

SECASSURED develops assurance-driven approaches for the engineering and operation of secure digital systems and services. Rather than treating cybersecurity as an additional layer introduced after a system has been developed, the project aims to integrate security assurance throughout the lifecycle of digital solutions.

This is particularly relevant in the healthcare and care sectors, where digital platforms, connected devices and increasingly intelligent services may support critical processes and interact with sensitive environments.

SECASSURED featured in European projects panel discussion

SECASSURED was also presented during the panel discussion of European projects entitled “Transforming Ageing Care Pathways Through Innovative Solutions.”

During the session, Arnor Solberg from Tellu spoke about how SECASSURED aims to improve the security of digital healthcare services and highlighted the importance of integrating security and assurance into the development and operation of innovative digital solutions.

The panel provided an opportunity to place cybersecurity within the broader discussion on the transformation of ageing care. New digital services can help improve accessibility, efficiency and quality of care, but their growing importance also increases the need for confidence that these systems behave securely and reliably.

For this reason, security and assurance need to be considered from the beginning of the design process and maintained throughout the complete system lifecycle.

Security assurance for future digital healthcare

SECASSURED addresses this challenge through an assurance-driven security engineering approach. The project is developing methods, tools and technologies that support the design, assessment and continuous operation of secure digital systems.

By bringing together security engineering, automated analysis, digital-twin technologies and AI-supported security services, SECASSURED aims to provide stronger and more continuous evidence that systems meet their security requirements.

Healthcare is one of the application areas where such capabilities can be particularly important. As services become more connected and increasingly rely on distributed digital infrastructures, cybersecurity can no longer be treated only as a technical issue. It becomes an important prerequisite for trust, resilience and the successful adoption of innovative healthcare technologies.

Participation in the SilverEco & Ageing Well International Festival therefore provided an excellent opportunity to connect the technical work of SECASSURED with the wider European discussion on how digital innovation can contribute to better and more sustainable care.

Many thanks to James Jacobs, Franck Fleurey and Arnor Solberg from Tellu for representing SECASSURED in Cannes and bringing the project into this important European discussion.

What role can LLM-based agents play in making software development more secure, efficient and trustworthy?

This question was at the centre of SECASSURED’s contribution to the 2nd International Summer School on LLM-Based Agents for Software Engineering (LLMA4SE 2026), held at the Universidad de Extremadura in Cáceres, Spain, from 9–11 September 2026. SECASSURED project partner SINTEF contributed both a lecture and a hands-on workshop to the programme.

Connecting LLM-based agents with security assurance

On 11 September, Phu Nguyen from SINTEF gave a lecture entitled “Assurance-driven security engineering and the roles of LLM-based agents.” The session explored how emerging LLM-based agent technologies can support security engineering activities and how they may contribute to more continuous and systematic security assurance throughout the software lifecycle.

This topic is closely aligned with the objectives of SECASSURED. The project develops assurance-driven approaches for designing, assessing and operating secure digital systems and services. As software systems become more complex and development processes increasingly integrate AI-based tools, new approaches are needed to help developers identify weaknesses, reason about security requirements and continuously assess whether systems remain compliant with their intended security properties.

LLM-based agents offer promising opportunities in this area. They can potentially assist software engineers by analysing code and design artefacts, detecting problematic patterns, supporting remediation activities and coordinating multiple specialised analysis tasks.

Hands-on experience with cooperative LLM agent workflows

The summer school also included a practical workshop entitled “Building Cooperative LLM Agent Workflows for Anti-pattern Detection, Code Smell and Technical Debt Resolution.”

The hands-on session was led by Adela N. Videsjorden and Karthik Shivashankar from SINTEF and demonstrated how multiple LLM-based agents can cooperate within software engineering workflows. Participants explored how such agent-based approaches can be applied to identify software anti-patterns, detect code smells and support the resolution of technical debt.

These challenges are important not only for software quality but also for cybersecurity. Poor architectural patterns, accumulated technical debt and weaknesses in software structure can make systems more difficult to maintain, analyse and secure. Improving these aspects can therefore contribute to stronger and more manageable security throughout the software lifecycle.

AI-assisted security engineering in SECASSURED

The contribution to LLMA4SE 2026 reflects SECASSURED’s broader work on continuous security assurance and AI-supported security services.

Rather than relying solely on security assessments at isolated stages of development, SECASSURED investigates how security evidence can be generated and evaluated continuously. AI-based techniques and autonomous or semi-autonomous agents can support this process by helping analyse complex systems, automate repetitive security engineering activities and assist experts in identifying and addressing potential weaknesses.

At the same time, the use of AI agents in security-critical processes also introduces important questions around reliability, explainability, trust and human oversight. Assurance-driven engineering can provide a framework for assessing not only the systems being protected, but also the AI-enabled tools used to support their development and operation.

Building bridges between research, education and practice

Participation in LLMA4SE 2026 provided SECASSURED with an opportunity to connect its research on security assurance with the rapidly evolving field of agentic AI for software engineering.

Through both the lecture and the practical workshop, participants could explore how LLM-based agents may become part of future software engineering workflows and how these capabilities can be combined with systematic security engineering practices.

The event also supported knowledge exchange between researchers, students and practitioners working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, software engineering and cybersecurity.

Many thanks to the organisers of LLMA4SE 2026 and to all participants for the valuable discussions, and to our colleagues at SINTEF for representing SECASSURED and sharing the project’s work with the community.

SECASSURED Project Manager Phu Nguyen from SINTEF presented the project’s approach to continuous cybersecurity at the Norwegian Security Festival 2026, held from 24–26 August in Lillehammer.

The Norwegian Security Festival is a major meeting place for professionals working in cybersecurity, ICT security, data protection and information security. It provides a collaborative forum for exchanging knowledge, practical experience and perspectives on emerging security challenges.

During his presentation, Phu Nguyen discussed security orchestration for critical Internet of Things and cyber-physical systems. He shared insights from SECASSURED’s work on combining assurance-driven security engineering, federated Digital Twins and AI-powered security services.

The presentation addressed several closely connected areas:

• security orchestration for critical IoT and cyber-physical infrastructures;
• the integration of security into DevOps processes;
• adaptive, AI-supported development and operational practices;
• Digital Twin platforms as a foundation for data-driven security engineering; and
• assurance-driven AI-based security services covering both development and operation.

These topics reflect the central vision of SECASSURED: moving beyond isolated security controls towards continuous, adaptive and evidence-based assurance across the entire IoT–edge–cloud continuum. By linking security-by-design practices with Digital Twins, automated assessment and AI-supported services, SECASSURED aims to help organisations identify, evaluate and respond to security risks throughout the lifecycle of complex digital systems.

Participation in the festival also provided an opportunity to exchange experiences with members of the Norwegian cybersecurity community and explore current developments in security engineering, artificial intelligence and critical infrastructure protection.

The SECASSURED project has joined the CyberAI Trust Cluster (CAITC), a collaborative ecosystem bringing together European research projects working at the intersection of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and digital trust.

Under the motto “Forging a Secure Future Together,” the cluster aims to foster innovation and contribute to a resilient European cyber ecosystem in which advanced AI capabilities and trustworthy security frameworks converge to support digital protection, regulatory compliance and confidence in emerging technologies.

The CyberAI Trust Cluster brings together SECASSURED and the sister projects CCAT, SecQDevOps, PERUN, SHASAI and ATHENA. Their complementary expertise covers cybersecurity certification and assessment, trustworthy quantum engineering, protection against next-generation and AI-generated malware, secure hardware and software for AI systems, and AI-supported vulnerability assessment.

The cluster’s objectives closely align with the SECASSURED vision of developing assurance-driven, AI-based security services for trustworthy security engineering across the entire system lifecycle. In particular, the collaboration will seek to:

• strengthen secure, resilient and trustworthy European digital ecosystems;
• advance AI-enabled capabilities for threat detection, vulnerability assessment and security assurance;
• support compliance, certification and readiness for European cybersecurity and AI regulations; and
• improve the resilience of strategic sectors, including critical infrastructures, AI systems, cloud environments and quantum technologies.

Planned joint activities include participation in relevant conferences, workshops and other events; regular coordination meetings; and the exchange of methodologies, datasets and project results. Cluster members will also explore technical synergies, coordinate stakeholder engagement, contribute jointly to policy and standardisation discussions, and undertake common communication and dissemination activities.

The collaboration is expected to increase the visibility and impact of the participating projects while enabling them to combine their complementary expertise. The cluster will also explore a shared exploitation perspective to identify joint opportunities, encourage the uptake of project results and support their long-term sustainability.

The next steps include establishing the cluster’s governance model and annual roadmap, identifying relevant events and potential joint publications, and creating working groups in areas such as dissemination, stakeholder engagement, exploitation and policy.

By joining the CyberAI Trust Cluster, SECASSURED will contribute its expertise in continuous security assurance, AI-supported security services and trustworthy security engineering to a broader European collaboration dedicated to building a safer and more resilient digital future.

On 5. August, 2026 Merve Astekin, SINTEF presented the research paper  “Context Guardian: LLM-Assisted Context-Aware Static Analysis for Vulnerability Detection” at the 2026 IEEE International Conference on Cyber Security and Resilience (IEEE CSR 2026), held in Lisbon, Portugal.

The paper was presented as part of the Robust Defense and Static Analysis technical session, bringing together researchers working on advanced approaches to software security and vulnerability analysis.

Participation in IEEE CSR 2026 provided an excellent opportunity for the SECASSURED consortium to engage with the international cybersecurity research community and exchange ideas on the latest developments in AI-assisted security, resilient software systems, and cyber defence. The conference brings together researchers and practitioners from around the world to present innovative solutions addressing current and emerging cybersecurity challenges.

Through contributions such as Context Guardian, SECASSURED continues to advance the state of the art in AI-powered cybersecurity, supporting Europe’s vision of secure, resilient and trustworthy digital infrastructures. The project remains committed to transforming cutting-edge research into practical security services that help organisations build and operate secure software systems with greater confidence.

The paper can be downloaded here.

The SECASSURED project was presented at the TAROT Summer School 2026, 13-17. July 2026, in Munich, bringing its innovative cybersecurity research to an audience of researchers, students, and industry professionals working on trustworthy, secure, and resilient communication systems.

As part of the programme, Wissam Mallouli (Montimage) delivered a presentation entitled “Smart Network Fuzzer for Advanced Security Testing”.

The presentation introduced how the smart network fuzzer part of secAttSIM can support organizations in systematically simulating cyber attacks, assessing the security of complex digital environments, and validating the effectiveness of security measures. The approach combines automated attack simulation, security testing, and intelligent analysis to help identify potential vulnerabilities and weaknesses before they can be exploited by real attackers.

The TAROT Summer School 2026 provided an excellent opportunity to present the SECASSURED approach and discuss secAttSIM with researchers, students, and industry experts working on trustworthy, secure, and resilient communication systems. The discussions highlighted the importance of automated attack simulation and continuous security assurance in addressing the increasingly complex cybersecurity threat landscape.

Events such as the TAROT Summer School play an important role in fostering collaboration between academia, industry, and European research projects, helping to accelerate the development and adoption of innovative cybersecurity technologies. SECASSURED remains committed to sharing its results with the wider community and contributing to a more secure and resilient digital future.

On June 23, 2026 Linh Truong, Aalto University presented the research paper “Digital Twins for Security-based Assurance of Edge-Cloud Software – A Data Platform Approach,” (authored by himself and Phu Nguyen, Sintef), at the 5th International Workshop on Architecting and Engineering Digital Twins (AEDT 2026).

The workshop was held in conjunction with the 23rd IEEE International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA 2026) in Amsterdam, bringing together leading researchers and practitioners to discuss the latest advances in digital twin engineering and software architecture.

AEDT has established itself as a leading international forum for research on the architecture, engineering and lifecycle management of Digital Twins. The workshop focuses on the role of software architecture in designing, modelling and maintaining Digital Twins and explores their application across diverse domains, including industrial systems, critical infrastructures, healthcare and future cyber-physical systems.

SECASSURED’s participation in AEDT 2026 demonstrates the project’s continued commitment to advancing state-of-the-art research in Digital Twins, AI-driven cybersecurity and continuous security assurance. By contributing to international scientific discussions and collaborating with the wider Digital Twin research community, the project continues to strengthen Europe’s capabilities in developing secure, resilient and trustworthy next-generation software systems.

The paper can be downloaded here.

The SECASSURED consortium met in Oslo, Norway on 10-11. June 2026, for its second General Assembly, hosted by SINTEF. Bringing together project partners from across Europe, the two-day meeting provided an important opportunity to review the project’s progress, discuss achievements, and align on the next steps towards delivering SECASSURED’s objectives.

Throughout the meeting, partners presented the latest developments across the project’s technical work packages WP1-WP6, highlighting the progress made over recent months. The discussions covered ongoing research activities, technical developments, and upcoming milestones, ensuring that all partners share a common understanding of priorities and responsibilities for the next phase of the project.

Face-to-face meetings play a vital role in collaborative research projects, enabling more effective communication, deeper technical discussions, and stronger cooperation across disciplines. The General Assembly created an ideal environment for exchanging knowledge, addressing challenges, and identifying opportunities to further strengthen collaboration within the consortium.

In addition to the technical sessions, the meeting provided valuable opportunities for partners to connect, share experiences, and reinforce the collaborative spirit that underpins the SECASSURED project. These interactions are essential for maintaining strong coordination across the consortium and ensuring the successful delivery of project outcomes.

The consortium would like to extend its sincere thanks to Phu Nguyen and the entire SINTEF team for their excellent organisation and warm hospitality. We also thank all project partners for their active participation, valuable contributions, and continued commitment to advancing SECASSURED’s mission of strengthening cybersecurity for secure and resilient digital systems.

With a clear roadmap for the months ahead, the consortium looks forward to continuing its collaborative work and achieving the next milestones in the project.