New cybersecurity research center opens in Belfast
The £30 million center will work primarily on embedded security tech for next-gen IT equipment, and on real-time automated analysis of CCTV footage for “criminal activity”
Computer researchers at Queen’s University in Belfast cut the ribbon the other day on a new government- and industry-sponsored cybersecurity research center. The £30 million Center for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) will work primarily on embedded security tech for next-gen IT equipment, and on real-time automated analysis of CCTV footage for “criminal activity.” It is hoped that much of the new kit will spin out and become commercially successful.
“Cyber-security is a global issue that affects us all,” says Queen’s vice-chancellor Peter Gregson. “97 percent of business in the U.K. now relies on the Internet and other IT systems. By coupling the pioneering research undertaken at CSIT with economic development, Queen’s will secure the U.K.’s position in cyberspace.”
University spokespersons even went so far as to say that the new cybersecurity lab would be “the United Kingdom’s lead center for cybersecurity research,” possibly putting a few noses out of joint at the CESG.
Lewis Page writes that CSIT will be funded partly by government cash from the likes of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Technology Strategy Board. The rest of the money will come from industrial partners including defense contractors Thales and BAE Systems.
Se more detail on the projects which CSIT will take forward here, courtesy of the EPSRC.
