£25m cyber security research centre launches

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A new, £25 million cyber security research centre was unveiled today in Northern Ireland.

The Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) will be based at Queen’s University in Belfast, and is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The centre is unique because it will bring together expertise in data security, network security, wireless network enabled systems and surveillance intelligence systems, according to its creators.

CSIT said it would focus on ‘converged security’ – the use of IT systems to improve physical security, while protecting the systems themselves so they can't be hacked.

The centre's research projects will include the development of processors that could analyse internet traffic in real time, and CCTV analysis technology that could reduce crime on public transport.

"Our starting points are mission-driven projects for which we have identified end goals. CSIT also has a strong entrepreneurial ethos," said CSIT principle investigator John McCanny, in a statement.

"We're confident that we'll be able to fast-track the development of marketable applications of our technologies to the benefit of UK industry and the wider economy."

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