The 6G technologies, which benefit from software development, speeds in Gb/s, and communication examples in THz, open opportunities for the development of new and innovative network management strategies while navigating the evolution toward distribution. New software-based paradigms for the architecture and operation of future connectivity platforms embrace computing characteristics such as automation and intelligence, trust, privacy, and security. These innovations are supported by this technological evolution, and thus, exceptional user experiences are expected even in the presence of mobility and resource volatility.

However, the fundamentally new and unknown characteristics of advanced, disaggregated, virtualized, and multi-vendor 6G infrastructures challenge security and resilience design to the next level. They manage the unknown, complex, and highly dynamic infrastructures as they evolve. Indeed, the future development of 6G networks is inextricably linked to the integration of different hardware elements and infrastructures, leading to not only a highly heterogeneous environment but also to functions and features that cannot be predicted at the time of design.

The vision of the project, in this complex scenario, is to address technological solutions and system evaluations that have not yet been foreseen, for intelligent and secure network service delivery in the future landscape of interconnected networks. To this end, the HORSE project proposes a new human-centric, open-source, green, and sustainable platform for service provisioning and protection, which can inclusively but seamlessly combine advancements in several areas (e.g., predictive threat detection, proactive business threat mitigation actions, programmable networking, semantic communications, network function virtualization (NFV), AI-based techniques, multi-layer physical level feature management, etc.).