720288Digital Shadows prototype development: To provide protection from targeted cyber attacks through automatic identification of exposure to hostile reconnaissanceClosedGRD Development of PrototypeInnovate UKThis year will see organisations and their employees exposing more information online than ever before, particularly through social media. This exposure is further exacerbated by factors such as cloud computing, lengthening supply chains and the increasing consumerisation of IT. Although these trends provide great benefits, many organisations are also unintentionally and unknowingly publishing information that impacts the cyber security of an organisation. Hackers are using this information to launch tailored, focused attacks on their targets, which have recently risen three-fold. In fact, 51% of businesses state that social media is one of their three biggest IT security risks. Following a successful TSB-backed proof of concept in 2011, this project is a development of a prototype that automatically discovers vulnerabilities in an organisation's digital shadow at scale. A prototype system will be created to prove that investing in developing a full platform is technically and commercially viable. The prototype platform will collect, collate, analyse and visualise data from social networks, social media sources, and the tools used by the hackers themselves. Should this research project be successful, the goal is to create a full production system that will provide an automated service to both small and large organisations that continuously monitors their digital shadows for exposed information useful to an attacker. Once industrialised, this could help a great number of organisations reduce their exposure to cyber attack. This has many benefits including protecting the UK’s intellectual property, jobs, national security and critical national infrastructure.