In late 2025, the Global Cyber Alliance Brussels (GCAB) became part of a 12-country, 17-organisation, multidisciplinary consortium that, over 36 months, will deliver OSPREY Online Safety and Security for Protection of Public-Facing Professionals and Democratic Resilience, a project co-funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No. 101225639.
OSPREY addresses the escalating risks faced by Public-Facing Professionals (PFPs), who are increasingly targeted by online abuse, intimidation, threats, and coordinated disinformation campaigns. Such attacks undermine personal well-being, constrain professional activity, and erode public trust in democratic institutions. Online risks affecting public-facing professionals—and the broader implications for their professions and open society—are a shared concern, yet efforts to address these risks remain fragmented, complex, and largely reactive.
OSPREY’s work will focus on improving understanding and awareness of online risks and harms affecting two professions at the core of our democratic institutions: (1) elected officials at local, national, and EU levels, and (2) police professionals across Europe and the United Kingdom.
Over the next three years, OSPREY will:
- Build a knowledge base and taxonomy of online harms affecting public-facing professionals;
- Develop AI-driven threat and risk analytics to support early detection and proactive response to online abuse;
- Create digital forensics tools for efficient evidence collection and reporting;
- Design specialist training curricula for law enforcement and public institutions;
- Produce a transferable, operational practitioner-focused toolkit tailored to the needs of public-facing professionals, their families, organisations, and the wider security community.
OSPREY will raise awareness and support evidence-based policy and capacity-building efforts to better protect public-facing professionals from online harms.
OSPREY will work through action-oriented and practitioner-focused co-creation, co-design, and co-deployment of innovative, modular capabilities and operationally focused tools. Through OSPREY, GCA plays a vital role in empowering victims, organisations, and families to effectively manage online harms, and in supporting organisations and policymakers in contributing to a more resilient and informed professional community and democracy.
For more news of the OSPREY project, please visit the official project website: https://osprey-eu.org/ or follow the project developments on LinkedIn.
