The British government has awarded £10-million, spread over four years, to nine research teams at UK universities, to develop innovative cybersecurity technologies. These nine research teams were the winners in the latest round of Britain’s Digital Security by Design grant competition.

The aim of this competition, which was launched last year, is to stimulate the development of hardware and software that will protect key current or future digital systems from hacking. Such systems include personal computers, smart home security systems, autonomous cars as well as data storage and processing systems, which hackers have to be prevented from accessing and taking remote control of. Or, in other words, to provide better protection for people and businesses.

Over the past 12 months, 46% of British businesses and 26% of British charities have reported cyberattacks or cybersecurity breaches. The average cost of a cyberattack on medium or large UK companies has increased and is now estimated at £5 220.

“We have a world-class cybersecurity sector and together we are working hard to make sure the UK is the safest place to work, connect and live online,” said UK Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary (Cabinet Minister) Oliver Dowden. “With government support these projects will build up cutting-edge, secure technologies that will give people and businesses further confidence in our digital services and help weaken the threat of cyberattackers.”

The successful universities are Birmingham, Cambridge (with two teams), Glasgow (also two teams), Kent, Manchester and Oxford (a joint team), Southampton, and Imperial College London. For example, the University of Birmingham team has been awarded a grant for a programme (called CAP-TEE) to use prototype microchips to secure sensitive and personal data systems from hackers. 

And one of the Glasgow University teams has been granted funding to employ latest technology microprocessors (developed previously in the Digital Security by Design programme) to ensure the digital security of vital systems, that can be employed in nuclear power plants, medical devices or cars, in a project called AppControl. While Southampton University received a grant for its HD-Sec project, intended to accelerate software design while also reducing errors and security vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit.

“The Digital Security by Design programme will radically update the security foundations of the digital computing infrastructure that underpins the entire economy,” highlighted UK Research and Innovation challenge director for the programme John Goodacre. “I’m honoured that these leading universities and researchers have aligned their expertise to this challenge. These projects will increase the knowledge and skills around this new technology, as well as research the opportunities this fundamental change offers to the security of computers across business and society in future.”