School News
Birmingham recognised as Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research
University of Birmingham School of Computer Science has been officially established as an ‘Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research’ (ACE-CSR) by the UK government.
This accolade is a testament to the first rate research and work that is undergoing here at the School of Computer Science. Furthermore, it builds upon and enhances the number one spot claimed by University of Birmingham in The Guardian University Guide 2014 for computer science.
The Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Research is a national scheme mutually supported by GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), RCUK (Research Councils’ Global Uncertainties Programme) and BIS (Department for Business Innovation and Skills). The notion behind this scheme is to strengthen the collaborative work and ongoing research between academic institutes, UK government and Industry to ensure that everyone is more resilient to cyber attacks in an ever growing digital world.
Since the late 1950’s when the School of Computer Science opened at University of Birmingham we have been renowned for conducting world class research within our subject field. Today, our computer security group are dedicated to all aspects of cyber security. This includes the analysis and verification of systems, privacy and security, malware, intrusion detection, web security, botnets and secure software engineering.
Cyber security is an area of computing that aims to tackle problems which affect everyone. These issues range from protecting individuals who are at risk of banking fraud to the extreme end of preventing hostile attacks from criminal organisations or other countries. Given the recognition as an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research, University of Birmingham will have the opportunity to critically focus on cyber security issues that affect society, industry and Government. An example of the leading research contributing to finding solutions for these problems includes ‘Trustworthy Voting Systems’. Led by Professor Mark Ryan this specific research project is helping to transform electronic voting into a secure and usable system in large scale elections. The group have developed a new electronic voting system that allows the authorities to identify and monitor votes that may have taken place under coercion, whilst simultaneously keeping the privacy of people’s votes.
Another ground breaking discovery the team have brought to light, is the vulnerability of 3G standard mobile phones that leaves users unprotected from potential stalkers and other enemies. The solution for this problem has also been addressed by the team, who have found that public key cryptography needs to be deployed within networks in order to thwart these privacy attacks on mobile phone users.
Professor Mark Ryan, founder and head of the computer security team at University of Birmingham said: ‘We are delighted to be awarded recognition of Excellence for Cyber Security Research. It is a tribute to the brilliant team of researchers we have and the ongoing work they are all committed to. At Birmingham our effective ethos revolves around tackling cyber security problems that are critical to society at large. We value the freedom and importance in working on long term research that ultimately benefits national and worldwide resilience against security attacks.’
By Swaranjit Grewal