As a part of the SPARTA project, during the latest municipal elections in Latvia, LMT began to study how 5G network capabilities can improve the security of both on-site elections and e-voting.

Last week, during municipal elections in Latvia, LMT conducted an anonymous analysis of base stations’ big data and surveyed citizens on e-voting in the polling stations. LMT aims to finalize the research in autumn this year and compile recommendations on using 5G technologies to ensure cybersecurity during elections by identifying potential cyberattacks and minimizing cyber threats. 

The fifth generation of mobile technologies – 5G – provides vast possibilities for strengthening the cybersecurity of e-voting and analyzing the compliance of on-site elections by using big data and artificial intelligence. Using new generation mobile technologies would allow making the election process more transparent, which is crucial for ensuring democracy within the era of false news. 

LMT is actively involved in several international R&D projects on using 4G/5G technologies for future Industry 4.0 solutions. Thus, the SPARTA project is an ambitious European R&D project within the scope of H2020 (No. 830892). It aims to create a European Cybersecurity Research & Innovation Roadmap for building strategic digital autonomy in Europe. SPARTA unites 44 participants from 14 EU countries – the most prominent cybersecurity, telecommunications, and IT scientific institutions and industry representatives. 

The SPARTA project is coordinated by the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), and LMT is the only project partner from Latvia. Our tasks include providing 4G/5G network infrastructure for data sharing, testing the T-SHARK program, and researching network infrastructure usage in the municipal elections. Additionally, LMT cooperates with Cert.lv and Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences on implementing the SPARTA project.