New Cyber Security Centre to help protect computer communications

Greater protection of computer communications is the aim of a newly launched research centre at the University. The new Centre for Cyber Security will harness expertise across the University to address current and future cyber security challenges.

It will work with external organisations to promote cyber security, creating a strategy for wide-ranging multidisciplinary research, developing skills in cyber security, and engaging with the wider community through workshops, visits, lectures and training.

Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind the BlackBerry® solution, is one of the companies engaging with the new Centre. Speaking at the launch event, Peter Beck, Senior Security Researcher at RIM, said: ‘We are delighted to be working with the University of Kent’s new Cyber Security Centre. RIM is an industry leader in delivering enterprise grade mobile security, and collaboration with external security researchers has helped us to continuously improve the security of our solutions for customers.’

Dr Eerke Boiten, Senior Lecturer in the University’s School of Computing is Director of the new Centre. He said: ‘The relevance of cyber security increases with the increased dependence of society on computer network infrastructure, and the sharply rising incidence and sophistication of attacks.

‘However, cyber security solutions cannot just be technical: the human normally ends up being the ‘weakest link’ when security policies are complex and hard to remember, or cumbersome and distracting from the core activities they are supposed to protect. The Centre brings together all aspects of cyber security related research: technical, psychological, social and legal, in order to provide a holistic approach to cyber security.’

Among initial research projects encompassed by the new Centre are two projects aimed at securing cloud-based computing services (led by the University’s School of Computing and School of Engineering and Digital Arts (EDA)), as well as others investigating social network behaviour (EDA and the School of Psychology), and monitoring police requests for personal information held by the NHS (Kent Law School).

To find out more about the Centre, its aims and research, contact Dr. Eerke Boiten (e.a.boiten@kent.ac.uk).

Contact: pressoffice@kent.ac.uk

Story published at 4:12pm 8 August 2012