The SPEAR Early Integrated Prototype is Coming Soon

5/17/2020

The SPEAR components (SPEAR SIEM, SPEAR FRF and SPEAR RI) developed in the technical work packages are currently being integrated towards a complete functional prototype in the framework of the Integration work-package (WP6). The SPEAR platform that is built on a novel three-tier approach, unifies the different modules and converges into an overall system that provides to security administrators of the Smart Grid (SG) systems not only a friendly and useful but also a more effective and reliable tool to detect, respond and take countermeasures against advanced cyber threats and attacks.

Figure 1 displays the integration infrastructure that is hosting 11 Virtual Machines (VMs), one per architectural component.

Figure 1: Integration Infrastructure Architecture

In the screenshots bellow you can find samples of the ready-components, already integrated into the early prototype, using European Dynamics’s Qlack2 Web desktop, which simulates a desktop environment. The main benefit of such an implementation is that a user’s applications are easily accessible from any terminal machine. Also, all the application related information is loaded and shown on the user’s browser, avoiding installations and taking advantage of centrally performed updates. Finally, the fact that the web desktop environment is operated via the browser, makes its use platform-independent.

The Qlack2 Web desktop is based on responsive design, bearing in mind the user needs for multiplatform use.

Figure 2: SPEAR Login Screen

After logging in, the user is navigated to the web desktop workspace screen (Figure 3), which essentially serves as an applications container.

Figure 3: SPEAR Workspace

The user can access installed SPEAR applications by selecting their respective icon on the menu.

Figure 4: SPEAR Start Menu
Figure 5: Coexistence of two applications that overlap