QUEEN's University in Belfast in investing half a million pounds in a new state-of-the-art cyber security research lab.
The facility at the university's Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) will create a stronger service and innovation driven engagement model of academic research to address global challenges within the cyber security industry. Based at the the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) the test lab will work with local and international corporations, start-up companies and SMEs to form a strong response to cyber security attacks.
Head of connected systems security at CSIT, Professor Sakir Sezer said it is a "significant investment" for the research community in Northern Ireland, with opportunities for supporting and promoting innovation within cyber security.
“With cyber-attacks and emerging threats becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex, applied research and innovation in cybersecurity depends on data-sets and well equipped state-of-the-art experimental labs and shared research infrastructures," he said.
“The CSIT Test Lab is one of the first UK-wide research infrastructures providing an experimental playground for both academia and industry to collaborate, innovate and share equipment, tools, experiments and data-sets."
“The lab gives Queen’s University Belfast and CSIT new experimental capabilities for application (software) and appliance (hardware) penetration testing, which is highly relevant for the local cyber security cluster member companies," he added.
Judith Millar, business development manager at CSIT, said the new lab provides the essential technologies and tools to deliver critical services and training for the local Northern Ireland Cyber Security Cluster.
“SMEs and start-ups will be able to access the latest cyber security technologies, infrastructure and synthetic test-data for testing and product validation through this impressive research facility. Training, interoperability and penetration testing support by CSIT for start-ups and SMEs are vital for competitive advantage, economic success and added value for the local economy.”
