Big data: Software bot for critical infrastructure security

Security of core services such as transport, electricity and water passes also through big data analytics. This is the objective of Obserbot, a software which will make it possible by acquiring and processing digital information circulating on the internet about the damage suffered by critical infrastructures, due to malfunction, natural events and terrorist attacks. Developed by a team of ENEA researchers, it has been recently presented at the conference “Big Open data analysis”.

“It’s a completely automated software, capable of monitoring the web thanks to the high performance computing infrastructure ENEAGRID/CRESCO and the national ultra-wide bandwidth network GARR”, Vittorio Rosato, Head of the ENEA Laboratory for the Analysis and Protection of Critical Infrastructures, explained. “Among the new developments-Rosato went on- there is the possibility of acquiring data from social networks, press agencies and blogs. The analysis of this information is very sensitive, because these sources require an extensive verification of the content but give back first-hand knowledge on the state of the infrastructures in return, thanks to the information networked by the users themselves, the so called “crowd sourcing”. “In this way-Rosato concluded- we are initiating a whole new way of listening to citizens and making them proactive in promoting safety and protection of the community and  the core services”.

“Thanks to Obserbot - ENEA researcher Gregorio D’Agostino, team leader of the software development -  we can identify influencers, individuals who have the power to affect people’s opinions and interests, and determine how much internet users are influenced.

A key element to these studies, developed in collaboration with the Boston University, was the concept of “temperature of a language“  based on word frequency in texts, allowing the automated analysis of a message to have a more “human” approach to the information of interest.  ENEA accurately classifies this data according to elaborate criteria developed at the European level, jointly with the Dutch Research Institute TNO, based on type of event (e.g. natural disasters, malfunctioning, attack or poor maintenance), infrastructure involved, area concerned, time-frame and consequent damage.

The result obtained by the ENEA team is the development of a continuosly growing, completely automated platform, capable of acquiring information on accidents and blackouts occurring in critical infrastructures, uploaded  on the internet by users .

Currently the Web is a huge source of information on what goes on in the world, and on what people think and feel. The size of the net is  limitless: it is estimated to contain 1 billion sites and 5 billion pages, and Social networks contribute to constantly making it bigger, since every second 6.000 tweets are tweeted and over two million e-mail messages are sent.

To this extent, the analysis of the network data is an incredible source of knowledge and being able to access this information may be key also to the advancement of scientific research.

For more information please contact:

Vittorio Rosato, ENEA – Head Laboratory of Analysis and Protection of Critical Infrastructures”, vittorio.rosato@enea.it

Gregorio D’Agostino, ENEA – Laboratory of Analysis and Protection of Critical Infrastructures”, gregorio.agostino@enea.it