Cambridge to Open Cyber Security Research Centre

Cambridge University Institute of Criminology

The University of Cambridge has announced that it is to open a new research centre to examine cyber crime.

Named the Cambridge Cloud Cybercrime Centre, the specialist department will focus on enhancing our understanding of how cyber crime takes place, which, in turn, will lead to advances in how businesses and governments defend themselves against attacks through superior cyber security tools and techniques.

The research centre will look to utilise the expertise already developed within the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory, Institute of Criminology and Faculty of Law departments. Due to open in October 2015, the Cloud Cybercrime Centre is aiming to become a “sustainable and internationally competitive centre for academic research into cyber-crime”, according to a statement on the university’s website.

The announcement comes in the same week that several high profile attacks have occurred around the world, once again illustrating the importance of cyber security. Firstly, multiple Canadian government websites and servers were taken down in a cyber attack that has been attributed to hacker group Anonymous. This was followed by a major breach at Poland’s national airline LOT, which resulted in 10 flights having to be grounded and a further 12 being severely delayed.
Meanwhile, in the UK, a new report from the Association of Accounting Technicians has suggested that nearly half of all small and micro businesses in the southeast have been the victim of cyber crime.
The steady flow of stories such as this – from large companies and major governments through to SMEs and consumers – is what has inspired the Cambridge Cloud Cybercrime Centre.
A statement on the centre’s website reads: “Our analysis will enhance understanding of crime ‘in the cloud’, enable us to devise identifiers of such criminality, allow us to build systems to detect this type of crime when it occurs, and aid us in showing how it is possible to collect extremely reliable evidence of wrongdoing. When it is appropriate, we will work closely with law enforcement so that interventions can be undertaken.”
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