Sovereign Citizen Alliance

The SOCIAL project aimed to empower European citizens to participate responsibly in digital environments. They outlined steps towards raising awareness of security threats, facilitating the secure...

The SOCIAL project aimed to empower European citizens to participate responsibly in digital environments. They outlined steps towards raising awareness of security threats, facilitating the secure observance of individual rights in the digital space and ultimately achieving true sovereignty - the exercise of ownership, responsibility and independence in the digital world. By improving the resilience of information security and digital sovereignty sustainable democratic processes are supported (combating misinformation, protecting public infrastructure, ensuring freedom of expression in the public, private and digital spheres). The view of a European as a citizen and as an employee in SMEs is described here as a 'low-threshold environment', which presupposes the lack of structured awareness-raising as in larger co-operations and the absence of complex technical information systems. In these contexts, small improvements in particular make a big difference to the willingness to take risks and the level of security. The aim is to enable SMEs to strengthen their own resilience in information security by fostering a digitally sovereign citizen equipped to face the challenges of the digital age.

Education and training are the most important angles to unlock the competencies necessary for digital sovereignty. Thus, information exchange and knowledge transfer were at the heart of this project. The first activity “Roundtables: Information Security in Education” established common ground on the status quo of information security awareness among citizens from the member countries by expert roundtables. The second activity “Internationalization: Information Security Management Systems in SMEs and SMOs” entailed the transfer of existing tools, supporting especially SMEs and SMOs in developing information security competencies. A two parted Workshop in Lithuania focused on “Training for heads of social care institutions and IS-responsibles” and “CISIS12 and Information Security in SMEs”. Additionally, with “CISA50plus” an assessment tool for SME was developed to bridge the gap between the necessity (ISMS) and the actual feasibility for SMEs. It assesses the areas of organization, technology, and legal issues for determining the status quo of the essential information security aspects of SME. This mechanism also serves as a means of continuous improvement and the assessment can be continually adapted to new circumstances.

The views on a European as a citizen and as an employee in SMEs are here called 'low-threshold environments' which thereby assume the absence of structured awareness rising like in larger cooperation and the absence of complex technical information systems. In these contexts, mainly the small improvements make big differences to the risk-disposition and the level of security. The SOCIAL project developed recommendation to awareness and low threshold information about the topic information security (IS). The project facilitated the adoption of good practices like the CISIS12 Information Security Management System (ISMS), aimed particularly at SMEs by developing an introduction to ISMS and CISIS12. To bridge the gap between the necessity (ISMS) and the actual feasibility for SMEs, a lower-threshold tool was additionally proposed and abstracted. This tool – CISA50plus – allows SMEs to gain initial experience in IS management by assessing the areas of organization, technology, and legal issues. The project facilitated a transnational exchange on digital sovereignty and established a transnational network among partners has created a sustainable platform for ongoing exchange and support, laying the groundwork for future initiatives.