Uni launches research to tackle cyber crime

Aiming to tackle the threat of cyber crime, City University London has launched its cross-disciplinary research Centre for Cyber and Security Sciences.

The Centre will examine the cyber security landscape and analyse the threats posed by both organised cyber crime and state-sponsored cyber terrorists.

Simultaneously with the launch City University introduced a research project The Uncertainty of Identity. The research will analyse the relationship between virtual identities and real persons’ identities behind them, with the aim to make the identifying of individuals in the virtual world more manageable.

In collaboration with the Home Office, University College London and the University of St. Andrews the project address some of the main issues faced by governments today.

Cyber security was described as a ‘tier one threat’ by the UK government last year. The need for a tighter cyber security system is increased by the upcoming Olympics and accompanying global attention.

Since hacktivist groups such as Anonymous and Lulzsec have proven their ability to attack global brands such as Sony, Mastercard and Paypal as well as US government institutions like the CIA, the fear of cyber terrorism has become more real.

A recent attack on Kernel.org, which distributes Linux source code, shows that not even open source experts are safe from cyber attacks. The – yet unknown – hackers gained root access to the kernel.org server Hera and consequently compromised several servers in the website’s infrastructure.

The home of the Linux project was facing modified files and a malicious programme which was added to the server’s start-up scripts. Kernel.org thinks that hackers may have stolen a user’s login credentials to break into the system. The organisation has notified authorities in the US and Europe to assist in the investigation of this attack.