Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research - University of Surrey

Research within the Surrey Centre for Cyber Security falls into the following principal themes:

- Security through Hardware: design and use of secure hardware such as Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) as the basis of security mechanisms and designs

- Trusted Systems: applied cryptography, modelling and security analysis of systems, verification

- Privacy and Authentication: privacy-preserving computing, passwords, multi-factor authentication, personal data privacy

- Secure Communications: Internet of Things, 5G, connected vehicles, communications protocols, ultra-high-speed mobile and wireless connectivity

- Multimedia Security and Forensics: cybercrime and law enforcement

- Human Factors: cognitive modelling of human behaviour, human-assisted data loss/leakage prevention, reduction of human-related risks in the cyber-physical world.

Within each theme there is a foundational element developing understanding, theory and new technologies, together with applications to specific problem domains and to building practical solutions. Application areas cover a wide range across the cyber-security spectrum, include new cryptographic schemes, security protocols, hardware-enhanced security, network security issues at different layers, formal security modeling and verification, human factors, secure electronic voting, key management, digital rights management and watermarking, image and video forensics, security economics, and biometrics.

The application domains we work in include transportation (automotive, rail), democracy (e-voting), telecommunications, digital economy, health, and law enforcement.

The technical core of the centre includes academics from the Departments of Computer Science, and the 5G Innovation Centre,. The centre also has a number of associates from a wide range of disciplines across the University whose research overlaps with security, and who are involved in interdisciplinary security research. These areas include Artificial and Machine Intelligence, Communication Systems, Vision, Speech and Signal Processing, as well as Surrey Business School, Sociology, Psychology, Law and Economics.

The Centre maintains strong collaborative links with its internationally renowned research partners, participates in technology transfer from academic to small and large businesses, shares knowledge and offers consultancy to government agencies, and is active in cyber-security education and security awareness raising campaigns for the industrial and public sectors.

The aim of this grant is to securely establish the Surrey Centre for Cyber Security, the proposed Surrey ACE-CSR, by providing support for the planned activities and developing an appropriate infrastructure. These activities are aimed at achieving impact by engaging with the key stakeholders in Cyber Security through high-profile events and trade fairs aimed at practitioners and researchers at the more technical level, with a focus on promoting exchange and collaboration among all ACE-CSR Centres and engaging with industry. These activities will contribute to the vitality of the Cyber Security community, and disseminate relevant and up-to-date information to organisations and people who will benefit from the research produced by the Surrey Centre for Cyber Security and other ACE-CSR Centres.

We also aim to foster direct focused interactions with organisations. The Applied Security Lab will be used to conduct applied security research, and showcase research results to students, collaborators and industrial visitors. The Centre's website and other publicity materials will showcase our expertise and provide a first port of call for external contacts.

We have an Advisory Board of experts from our network of senior contacts in the Cyber Security community. This Board consists of industrialists, policy makers, and leaders in the academic community, to advise on our strategy, and also to provide active involvement and support for our activities, leveraging our impact. This will provide another source of expertise on the most effective ways to achieve impact. Furthermore, Advisory Board members will themselves be from our target community, and their direct involvement with the ACE will provide another route for impact.
Our involvement with the University of Surrey 5G Innovation Centre provides a unique opportunity for the Surrey Centre for Cyber Security to have a direct impact, at an early stage, on security aspects within the development of 5G technology.

The University of Surrey provides a first-class environment in which to achieve impact. The University's mission statement from 1998 states that

"As a University of real international standing, our vision is to work in partnership with industry, commerce and the professions, as well as with other institutions, for the benefit of the world. We will achieve this by providing scholarship attuned to the particular needs of our technological society, by developing leading-edge research and by creating a rich and varied learning environment for our students."

The University has a strong record of exploiting and applying research and has a vibrant commercial activity, with a number of spin-out companies, and substantial contract and consulting work. The culture of the University is very much attuned to "engaging with the world", and there is strong corporate experience and knowledge, and administrative support for achieving impact.