Goals, methodology, and the impact SHIELD‑6G aims to deliver for secure next-generation communications in Europe.
As 6G technologies evolve towards supporting increasingly interconnected and mission-critical digital services, cybersecurity will become a fundamental requirement for trusted communications and resilient digital infrastructure. Future networks must be capable of detecting, mitigating, and responding to sophisticated cyber threats while ensuring privacy, reliability, and operational continuity across diverse application domains.
SHIELD‑6G is a European research and innovation project that addresses these challenges by developing advanced cybersecurity solutions tailored for future 6G environments. The project brings together leading expertise from academia, research organisations, telecommunications providers, technology companies, and innovative SMEs to create intelligent, scalable, and trustworthy security capabilities for next-generation networks.
Through research in AI-driven cyber threat intelligence, automated security response, privacy-preserving technologies, and security validation methodologies, SHIELD‑6G aims to strengthen the resilience and trustworthiness of future digital infrastructures. The project's innovations will be validated in healthcare, smart manufacturing, and maritime connectivity use cases, contributing to secure and reliable 6G services while supporting Europe's broader ambition for digital sovereignty and technological leadership.
Develop a 6G-native Cyber Threat Intelligence framework capable of identifying, analysing, and responding to cyber threats in increasingly complex network environments. The project aims to strengthen situational awareness and support timely, informed cybersecurity decisions across future digital infrastructures.
Design a scalable, hybrid, and intelligent security architecture tailored to the requirements of future 6G networks. The framework will support secure service operation while enabling interoperability, resilience, and trust across diverse stakeholders and environments.
Develop AI-driven mechanisms capable of detecting both known and emerging cyber threats and supporting automated mitigation actions. The objective is to improve cybersecurity effectiveness while reducing response times and operational complexity.
Advance privacy-preserving approaches that allow organisations to collaborate on cybersecurity activities without exposing sensitive information. The project will explore mechanisms that balance data protection requirements with effective threat intelligence and analysis.
Develop innovative methods for evaluating cybersecurity solutions in realistic and controlled environments. Through advanced testing and validation approaches, SHIELD‑6G aims to ensure the reliability, transparency, and trustworthiness of future security technologies.
Validate project innovations across healthcare, smart manufacturing, and maritime connectivity scenarios. These demonstrations will help assess the effectiveness of SHIELD‑6G technologies in environments where secure and resilient communications are critical.
Support ongoing European efforts in 6G cybersecurity research, standardisation, and innovation. The project aims to contribute knowledge, technologies, and best practices that strengthen Europe's leadership in secure next-generation communications.
Define use case requirements, security challenges, and system architecture foundations for developing cybersecurity solutions tailored to future 6G environments.
Develop core technologies, cybersecurity mechanisms, and intelligent security capabilities, including threat intelligence, automation, and privacy-preserving security approaches.
Integrate developed technologies into the SHIELD‑6G framework and validate their performance through testing and evaluation activities.
Demonstrate project outcomes in healthcare, smart manufacturing, and maritime connectivity use cases while contributing to standardisation and dissemination activities.
SHIELD‑6G develops a 6G-native Cyber Threat Intelligence framework designed to detect, analyse, and respond to cyber threats in real time. By improving situational awareness across complex network environments, the project aims to strengthen proactive and data-driven cybersecurity operations.
Artificial intelligence is used to enhance threat detection, analysis, and automated response capabilities. SHIELD‑6G explores intelligent security mechanisms that can identify known and unknown threats, improve response times, and increase the resilience of future 6G networks.
The project investigates federated learning approaches that enable collaborative cybersecurity intelligence while protecting sensitive information. This privacy-preserving methodology allows distributed participants to contribute to security improvements without directly sharing confidential data.
SHIELD‑6G incorporates explainable AI techniques to improve transparency, accountability, and trust in cybersecurity decision-making. By providing greater visibility into how AI-driven security mechanisms operate, the project supports more reliable and trustworthy network protection.
Advanced digital twin environments are used to test and validate cybersecurity solutions before deployment. These virtual representations of network environments help assess performance, identify vulnerabilities, and evaluate security mechanisms under realistic operating conditions.
The project develops automated and coordinated approaches to cybersecurity operations across complex 6G environments. Intelligent orchestration mechanisms help improve incident response, streamline security processes, and support resilient protection of future network infrastructures.
SHIELD‑6G will support the development of innovative cybersecurity technologies for future 6G networks, strengthening Europe's competitiveness in next-generation communications. By advancing secure and trustworthy digital infrastructure, the project aims to create opportunities for innovation, technology adoption, and sustainable growth across multiple industry sectors.
Secure and resilient communications are essential for increasingly digital societies. SHIELD‑6G will contribute to building trust in future connectivity by supporting cybersecurity solutions that protect critical services, sensitive data, and digital applications across healthcare, industry, transportation, and other mission-critical environments.
SHIELD‑6G will advance research and innovation in cybersecurity for 6G through developments in cyber threat intelligence, security automation, privacy-preserving technologies, and security validation methodologies. The project will contribute new knowledge, scientific collaboration, and research outcomes that help shape future cybersecurity and 6G research agendas.
Three strategic use cases put SHIELD‑6G technologies to the test.