The UK government is to draw down £10m through March 2024 from various pots to fund nine academic cyber security projects selected as the winners of the Digital Security by Design (DSbD) grant competition.
Announced as part of London Tech Week Connects, £3m of funding will come from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports’ (DCMS’s) £1.9bn National Cyber Security Strategy, and £7m from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS’s) Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. The long-running programme aims to help make the UK’s technology infrastructure more resilient in the face of an ever-increasing volume of cyber attacks.
“We have a world-class cyber security sector and together we are working hard to make sure the UK is the safest place to work, connect and live online,” said digital secretary Oliver Dowden. “With government support, these projects will build cutting-edge, secure technologies that will give people and businesses further confidence in our digital services and help weaken the threat of cyber attackers.” Science minister Amanda Solloway added: “Cyber attacks can cause significant economic and social damage and leave a lasting mark on affected businesses.
“Today’s funding will allow some of the country’s most innovative businesses and academics to work together on digital solutions to tackle these threats. The UK not only has a proud heritage in computing, but is a world leader in digital security and we are committed to ensuring our country remains one of the safest places to do business online.”
The winning projects include HD-Sec, developed at the University of Southampton, which is looking at reducing exploitable errors in software design; AppControl, developed at the University of Glasgow, which is using advanced microprocessors to protect vital systems in areas such as transport, robotics, and power generation; and CAP-TEE, developed at the University of Birmingham, which is developing prototype microchips to protect the systems that shield personal data from hackers.
Other winning projects are based at Imperial College London, the universities of Birmingham, Cambridge and Kent, as well as two joint projects developed at King’s College London and Glasgow, and the universities of Manchester and Oxford.
