R&D investments spearhead cyber security defence

 The Digital Security by Design (DSbD) challenge led by UK Research and Innovation, has the objective to prevent hackers from remotely taking control of digital systems such as autonomous cars, personal devices, smart home security systems and cyber attacks and data breaches across the online world.

£5.8 million has been awarded to a consortium led by global technology platform company, THG Holdings plc (THG), working with The University of Manchester and the University of Oxford. The partnership will develop a crucial demonstration element to work with, leading technology firm, Arm’s platform prototype, ‘Morello’ project, that was previously awarded UKRI funding.

This demonstrator will test the benefits of DSbD technology, to improve the security of e-commerce and enable the increased productivity and development of future world-leading services and products. £2.8 million of the funding will be invested by computer science major jobs into recruitment and specialist equipment for the research and the remainder will be distributed to the partner universities.

A new £3.5 million research collaboration at the University of Bath called DiScriBe has also been funded. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has provided £1.2 million and the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund’s Digital Security by Design challenge has funded the remaining £2.3 million. This research hub will focus on the social science side of digital security, bridging the gap between security engineering challenges and the businesses and people who will implement them.