CIPHER Open Call 1: Preparedness Support and Mutual Assistance for Larger Industrial Operations and Installations

What is this call about?

The call funds third parties that carry out cybersecurity challenges for larger industrial operations, from NIS2 compliance audits to cyber ranges and vulnerability testing. Selected applicants sign sub-grant agreements for a 9-month programme.

What does this call fund?

Scope

The CIPHER project (Cybersecurity Intelligence, Protection, and Holistic Enterprise Resilience) runs this open call under the topic on preparedness support and mutual assistance for larger industrial operations and installations. Work is organised in five specialised challenges across three operational modes.

Challenges

• Knowledge: NIS2 Article 21(2) compliance audits (K1) and benchmarking of industrial penetration-testing kill chains against the CIPHER automated suite (K2).
• Testing: validation of S3 WORM vulnerability pipelines (T1) and assessment of telemetry ingestion in the XDR SaaS platform (T2).
• Range and enablement: sector-emulation cyber ranges (R1) or Infrastructure as Code automation (P1).

Supported activities

Running testbed experiments, refining automated threat detection, performing vulnerability assessments, establishing secure information-sharing systems and deploying cross-border simulation exercises.

Selection process

Proposals are submitted electronically through the F6S platform. The CIPHER consortium carries out an administrative eligibility check and a binary technical scope screening, followed by remote evaluation by independent experts against Excellence, Relevance, Impact and Implementation. Top applicants complete interviews and KYC checks and sign sub-grant agreements for a 9-month programme.

When is the deadline?

6 January 2027 (62 days)

6 January 2027, 17:00 CET. Late submissions are not accepted.