WJuly 2023 – We are glad to announce the presentation of our article named “Lightweight machine learning for privacy-preserving and secure networked medical devices: The SEPTON project use cases” in the last ACM PETRA Conference in Corfu, Greece. You can find the corresponding publication in the ACM Digital Library repository https://lnkd.in/dQ7tn4-a 

January 2024 – We are thrilled to announce that our workshop event entitled “Cybersecurity for connected medical device (CyMed)” will be held on 26-28 June in Crete, Greece (http://www.petrae.org/workshops/cymed.html)

Generic details can be found here : http://www.petrae.org/workshops/index.html

 Important dates are as below :

• Paper Submission: March 01, 2024
• Submission Length:3-10 pages (incl. refs)
• Notification Date: April 01, 2024
• Camera-Ready: April 30, 2024

February 2024 – We are pleased to share SAMOS Conference event —an extraordinary gathering at the picturesque northern mountainside of the Mediterranean island of Samos. SAMOS is not just about embedded systems; it’s a unique blend of academia and industry, fostering collaboration over competition. Joining researchers for formal sessions in the morning, we dive into the latest in computer science. Afternoons and evenings are dedicated to informal discussions, delicious food, and the breathtaking Aegean Sea. Even more exciting, our conference papers will be published by Springer’s Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) and included in the prestigious DBLP Database!

April 2024 – SEPTON project was presented today at the Final Event of the project RESPECT (see here: https://www.project-respect.eu/final-event-for-the-respect-project-agenda/), organized by Singular Logic. Nikos Papadakis, SEPTON Coordinator, introduced the project concept and described the Use Cases developed around the IoMT, implants and wearable networked devices. As the preparatory stage comes to a close, stay tuned for more results soon!  

May 2024 – We are delighted to announce the prestigious speakers for the upcoming webinar on Elevating Healthcare Security: Exploring Innovations from EnTrust Project, SEPTON & MedSecurance Project

Speakers & Panellists;
Lina Giannakandropoulou, PhD from Unisystems
Thanassis Giannetsos from UBITECH
Emmanouil Bakiris from SPACE HELLAS S.A.
Sotiris Messinis from the National Technical University of Athens
Evangelos V. Kopsacheilis from the Centre for Research and Technology, Hellas
Christos Strydis from Erasmus Medical Center
Dr. Nabil Moukafih from the University of Warwick

The event will be moderated by Nick Ferguson from Trust-IT Services

Register now: https://lnkd.in/e8rFCguw

Date: 10th May 2024
Time: 10 CET

Press Release: Launch of the Alpha Version of SEPTON’s Advanced Medical Device Security Tools

[Athens, 31.05.2024] – The SEPTON project is thrilled to announce the release of the alpha version of its groundbreaking suite of tools designed to enhance the security and privacy of networked medical devices. These tools are poised to transform the landscape of healthcare cybersecurity, ensuring patient safety and data protection in an increasingly connected world.

• Anomaly Detection Networked medical devices, such as infusion pumps, ventilators, and pacemakers, are integral to patient care. The timely detection of anomalies in these devices is critical to prevent life-threatening situations. The new anomaly detection tool developed by SEPTON identifies unusual network traffic or device behavior, potentially indicative of malware infections or cyberattacks. This tool ensures the integrity of medical devices, safeguards patient records, and helps healthcare organizations comply with regulations like HIPAA in the United States.
• Differential Privacy SEPTON’s differential privacy tool is designed to protect individual privacy while enabling valuable insights from healthcare data. This technology ensures that even when an individual’s data is included in a dataset, it remains indistinguishable from other data points, protecting sensitive medical information. It supports secure data sharing for medical research, clinical trials, and public health studies, while ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations such as HIPAA and GDPR.
• Blockchain-Based Data Exchanges and Record Keeping The alpha version includes a blockchain-based system for secure, decentralized management of electronic health records (EHRs). This system provides patients with control over their data, facilitates secure data exchanges between healthcare systems and devices, and enhances patient identity management. By ensuring the integrity of medical devices and enabling secure data sharing among researchers, this blockchain solution supports collaborative medical research while maintaining patient privacy.
• Homomorphic Encryption SEPTON introduces homomorphic encryption, a cutting-edge cryptographic technique that allows computations on encrypted data. This tool is crucial for medical research and data analytics, enabling collaborative analysis without exposing raw data. It ensures secure data transmission between medical devices and other systems, supporting compliance with stringent data privacy and security regulations.
• Implant Security Based on Body-Coupled Communication The alpha release features an advanced security system for implant-based Body-Coupled Communication (BCC) devices such as pacemakers and neurostimulators. This technology ensures that communication within the human body remains secure and private. It incorporates robust encryption algorithms, cryptographic hashing for data integrity checks, and secure enclosures to prevent physical tampering.
• Hardware Acceleration SEPTON’s hardware acceleration tool leverages advanced deep learning acceleration techniques deployed in modern GPUs and similar hardware to enhance the performance of anomaly detection systems. This technology allows for high-speed, low-latency processing of large datasets, essential for real-time applications such as network intrusion detection.
• Vulnerability Assessment The alpha version includes a comprehensive vulnerability assessment tool designed to identify and assess potential security weaknesses in networked medical devices. This tool utilizes automated scanning, penetration testing by ethical hackers, and risk prioritization to uncover and address vulnerabilities, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements like the FDA’s guidance for medical device cybersecurity.

You can download the press release here.

June 2024 – We are excited to share our experiences from the PETRA Conference 2024, held in Crete from 26 – 28th of June. Our workshop CyMed provided a perfect backdrop for discussing innovative solutions in the cybersecurity for medical devices.

Our team had the opportunity to present topics on the developing SEPTON Project toolkit as well as contributions to the medical regulation field through a cluster collaboration paper. Besides, scientific contributions to concepts derived from differential privacy theory, anomaly detection techiques and federated learning presented by consortium authors. We were thrilled to engage with attendees and share our insights on healthcare cybersecurity.

October 2024 – Congratulations! One of the SEPTON results, “MedTech Chain Demo: Decentralised, Secure and Privacy-preserving Platform for Medical Device Data Research”, received the Best Demo Award in BRAINS 2024. Many congratulations to our project partners from TUDelft that were the developning team this platform.

October 2024 – We are pleased to announce the successful completion of the SEPTON General Assembly Meeting, which took place in Genoa, Italy, from October 17 to October 19, 2023.

This pivotal gathering brought together all project partners to review the progress of SEPTON and discuss key upcoming milestones. Among the highlights of the meeting were detailed discussions about the SEPTON Pilots and the SEPTON Toolkit Components Validation Events, both of which are planned for the final year of the project in 2025.

These initiatives aim to validate and showcase the practical applications of the SEPTON framework, ensuring that our tools and methodologies meet the needs of stakeholders and achieve the project’s objectives.

We extend our gratitude to all participants for their valuable contributions and look forward to an exciting and productive final phase of the project. Stay tuned for updates as we prepare for these significant events in 2025!

December 2024 – At the IEEE Workshop on Information Forensics and Security (WIFS) 2024, held in Rome, Italy, from December 2 to 5, the SEPTON project partners made significant contributions. TU Delft partners presented two papers titled:

• MedTech Chain: Decentralised, Secure and Privacy-preserving Platform for Medical Device Data Research by Alin Petru-Rosu (TU Delft), Tamara Tataru (TU Delft ), Jegor Zelenjak (TU Delft), Roland Kromes (TU Delft), Zekeriya Erkin (TU Delft)
  
• Collective Threshold Multiparty Private Set Intersection Protocols for Cyber Threat Intelligence by Chelsea Guan (Delft University of Technology), Jorrit van Assen (Delft University of Technology), Zekeriya Erkin (TU Delft)

In addition to the paper, the SEPTON partners from ZORTENET showcased a live demonstration of the ”MedGuard: Securing Medical IoT with Compiler Polymorphism,” This research, led by Dimitris Santorinaios, Akis Kourtis, and George Oikonomakis, tackles the critical challenge of safeguarding Medical IoT devices through innovative compiler polymorphism techniques.

April 2025

Thrilled to share that three of our papers have been accepted for publication at the EICC 2025 Conference in 18-20th of June in Rennes, France!
a. IoT-driven security solutions for resource-constrained wearable medical devices. (SPACE Hellas and ZORTENET)
b. Threshold multiparty private set intersection via federated graph neural networks (ICCS and the Academy of Athens)
c. MDCG 2019-16 Guidelines: Case Study-based Assessment and Path Forward (SEPTON Cluster joint paper)

June 2025

We’re thrilled to share that the MedSec Workshop – co-organized by our SEPTON project – successfully took place at the EICC 2025 – European Interdisciplinary Cybersecurity Conference, in Rennes, France! Supported by the Horizon Europe projects SEPTON, CYLCOMED, and NEMECYS, and backed by CybAlliance, we are proud to have contributed to this important dialogue on building trustworthy and resilient digital health systems, aligning with SEPTON’s vision for secure, privacy-preserving technologies in the medical domain.
A heartfelt thank you to our co-organizers, speakers, attendees, and the entire EICC 2025 community for making this workshop such a success!

Special thanks to our project’s participants and authors for their papers entitled:

”IoT-driven security solutions for resource-constrained wearable medical devices”,
“Threshold Multiparty Private Set Intersection via Federated Graph Neural Networks”

as well as our SEPTON cluster joint paper for the MDCG 2019-16 recommendations co-authored by SEPTON partners:

“MDCG2019-16 guidelines: Case study-based assessment and path forward”

July 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SEPTON Finalizes Cybersecurity Toolkit for Connected Medical Devices: Real-World Validation Phase to Begin

Athens, July 2025 — The SEPTON project, funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme (Grant Agreement No. 101094901), proudly announces the finalization of its full suite of advanced cybersecurity tools. Designed to safeguard networked medical devices (NMDs) and the wider Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) ecosystem, the SEPTON toolkit is now entering its real-world validation phase across healthcare premises in Europe.

Cutting-Edge Tools for Medical Cybersecurity

Coordinated by SPACE HELLAS SA, the SEPTON project brings together a multidisciplinary consortium of 10 partners from five countries, uniting expertise in cybersecurity, medical IT systems, AI, edge computing, and healthcare delivery. The project has developed a comprehensive cybersecurity framework that includes the following main components: 

🛡️ 1. Polymorphic Protection Agents

• Self-morphing agents that dynamically change their attack surface to evade malware and intrusions.
• Deployed on medical device endpoints to ensure proactive protection.
• Compatible with embedded systems and constrained devices.

🧠 2. Anomaly Detection Engine (Network and Device Level)

• Based on Deep LSTM Autoencoders, trained on traffic data from NetFlow and Zeek.
• Detects anomalous behaviors and potential attacks on hospital networks in real-time.
• Incorporates feature fusion from structured and historical traffic to enhance accuracy.

⚙️ 3. Hardware Acceleration Tool

• Deploys anomaly detection on Jetson AGX Orin edge devices using ONNX and TensorRT.
• Supports quantized inference (FP16) for optimized performance.
• Achieves up to 5× inference speedup and 90% energy reduction vs traditional architectures.
• Fully compliant with standards such as IEC 62443, ISO/IEC 27001, and ISO 14971.

🔗 4. Secure Data Exchange Mechanism

• Blockchain-based infrastructure for secure, traceable, and tamper-evident data sharing between NMDs.
• Supports smart contracts for data access governance.
• Integrates differential privacy and encryption schemes for confidentiality.

🔍 5. NMD Vulnerability Assessment Tool

• Provides a risk scoring engine for identifying known vulnerabilities in device firmware and software stacks.
• Uses CVE, SBOM, and firmware scanning mechanisms.
• Integrates into the SEPTON dashboard for real-time status reporting.

📊 6. Centralized SEPTON Dashboard

• Unifies visual analytics, alert management, device status, performance telemetry, and risk monitoring.
• Offers role-based access control and secure communication protocols.
• Supports plug-and-play integration with healthcare infrastructure.

Real-World Validation in Healthcare Settings

Following successful integration and internal testing, the complete SEPTON toolkit is now being prepared for pilot deployment and validation in operational environments. These include:

• Erasmus Medical Center (NL): Focus on surgical robotics, implantable device traffic, and cross-network interoperability.
• EBIT’s PACS Environment Set Up (IT): Simulation of emergency scenarios and data analytics using real traffic.

The validation phase will assess the technical, functional, regulatory, and usability readiness of each SEPTON tool under real-life operating conditions, with a focus on interoperability, resilience, and regulatory alignment (e.g. MDR, GDPR, NIS2 Directive).

A Major Step Toward Cyber-Resilient Healthcare

SEPTON’s mission is to empower European healthcare systems with cybersecurity-by-design capabilities, enabling them to anticipate and neutralize cyber threats while preserving the safety and privacy of patients. The project supports the EU’s broader ambition for digitally sovereign, safe, and interoperable healthcare infrastructures.

About SEPTON

SEPTON (Security Protection Tools for Networked Medical Devices) is a 36-month Research and Innovation Action (RIA) under the HORIZON-HLTH-2022-IND-13 call. With a total funding of nearly €5 million, the project develops next-generation solutions for threat detection, prevention, and response tailored to the realities of modern medical environments.

Contact Information:
Project Coordinator – SPACE HELLAS SA
Email: npap@space.gr (Dr. Nikos Papadakis)
Website: www.space.gr

 

You can download the press release here.

 

October 2025

We are pleased to announce that the SEPTON General Assembly (GA) took place on October 8, 2025, bringing together all consortium partners to review progress, align future goals, and strengthen outcomes across work packages. The meeting provided an excellent opportunity to discuss key achievements, upcoming milestones, and strategic directions for the next project phase.

Following the GA, a Use Case Open Day Workshop was held on October 9, 2025, at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam. This interactive event showcased the project’s real-world applications and ongoing use cases, featuring live demonstrations, stakeholder discussions, and opportunities for cross-disciplinary exchange.

Both events fostered meaningful dialogue and reinforced the commitment of all partners to advancing innovation and impact within the project.