ATHENS — With wars in the digital age as likely to be fought with technology as weapons, the Greek company Space Hellas is working with the Defense Ministry to develop a system to protect military devices from cyberattacks by hackers, many governments already cracking systems including hospitals.

The plan is part of a major European project called Pandora, funded by the European Commission, said Kathimerini, as cyberattacks have picked up dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, hackers looking for vulnerabilities.

“It is an open software system that detects and addresses cyber threats, focusing on the security of terminals, i.e. computers, mobile phones, tablets, any device that can be used in a military unit,” said Giorgos Gardikis, research and development manager at Space Hellas.

“The system is installed on all devices, monitors all their activities and transfers all the information to a central server, installed inside the military unit, which uses algorithms based on artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect any breaches in the system and suggests specific policies to the device administrator,” he said, adding that this is the first time the EU is funding research and development in the defense sector.

Athens is home to the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and Greece has been attacked by hackers a number of times, believed state-sponsored, including from Turkey, with the military a target.