Cyber security centre opens in Belfast
The battle against cyber crime has stepped up a notch, as a new centre for research into cyber security has opened in Belfast. Rosie Khdir reports.
Hackers and cyber criminals everywhere should be quaking in their boots at the thought of Queen’s University’s new research centre which has just opened in Belfast.
The £25m Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) is funded by the government though the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Technology Strategy Board, Queen’s University Belfast and a range of industrial partners.
Its researchers and scientists will be working on the following projects:
• Ultra powerful processors to enable safer internet surfing
• Innovative CCTV analysis to cut crime on public transport
• Cutting-edge research to combat computer viruses
The CSIT will be working on ground-breaking hardware that will protect internet users from online harassers, ID theft, viruses and other web-based crimes, and they hope that this processor will be in use within 3-5 years.
Dr Sakir Sezer, the project leader, said:
“The combination of next-generation content-processor technology and more sophisticated rulesets will improve internet security beyond recognition, ensuring more threats and attacks are prevented or mitigated at a much earlier stage. That means less online bullying and harassment, less identity theft, fewer viruses and less internet misuse in general for users to contend with.”
With the internet growing at an alarming rate, it seems that this centre has been set up at the perfect time, enabling internet providers to effectively process the huge waves of data so that web-users are safe. Current systems cannot analyse large amounts of data in real-time but these new technologies will enable real-time processing for the first time.
The centre will be working closely with internet providers and equipment manufacturers so that they deliver its service to the public as soon as possible. It seems that the cyber criminals’ days are numbered!