Uni link-up aims to improve early warning of cyber threats

A new collaboration between Coventry University and a tech company specialising in cybersecurity is aiming to improve the methods of online threat detection available to industry.

The link-up with Crossword Cybersecurity Plc – an ISDX listed tech transfer company – will focus on the University's research in the area of 'target-centric network monitoring', which looks at early warning systems for cyberspace with a view to raising alerts and responding more quickly.

Crossword will work with the University's cybersecurity researchers to create an early warning system that will be trialled in a commercial environment to detect threats such as insider attacks and employ advanced evasion techniques.

Coventry's experts are using 'Bayesian analytics' to assess the probability and risk of certain types of attack and investigate the most effective responses. The research has been shortlisted for the Lloyd's Science of Risk Prize 2015 under the 'Cyber Risk' category.

Dr Siraj Ahmed Shaikh, reader in cyber security at Coventry University and leader of the research team involved, said:

We are delighted to be working with Crossword Cybersecurity on this exciting venture. Our research has the potential to significantly enhance early estimation of threat indicators for cyber defence, national security and critical infrastructure protection where defences rely on sensing. Working with Crossword will allow us to explore routes to market to give companies access to the technology we're developing to meet today's cybersecurity challenges.

Tom Ilube, Crossword's CEO, said:

Coventry's research is extremely compelling and we believe it will enable companies to react to time sensitive cyber incidents in a more efficient and cost effective way. Coventry's applied research into Bayesian inference allows us to bring this exciting area of analysis into the cyber domain.