Bournemouth University takes on cybercrime with Cryptic

The days of academic work being completely independent are probably long behind us. In fact, with students coming out of college with a load of debt, they will be glad if their studies are going to lead to a good job in a relevant industry. Cue Bournemouth University and its partnership with a UK-based software company called Cryptic. KitGuru decrypts the news.

With cybercrime reportedly set to cost the UK £27 billion by the end of next year [cumulative – Ed?], something needs to be done and Bournemouth is leading the drive by linking government money with commercial partnerships to set up a brand new £500,000 state-of-the-art unit to teach both graduate and undergraduate programmes – starting with a BSc (Hons) course in Digital Forensics and Security.

The effort has been led by Dr Chris Richardson, a senior consultant in Cyber Security and Information Assurance. Half of the money came from the government's Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF).

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The first commercial engagement is with Cryptic Software, a privately owned UK company that specialises in security and forensic software development. The company was originally formed by Dave Duke – who has worked with both the RAF and GCHQ. Its new products have been created in conjunction with IBM and, according to CEO Dave Shearmon, the solutions are so fast that genuine real time protection can now be implemented.

According to Shearmon, Cryptic is now taking on students from Bournemouth University to give them crucial real world experience in the security field.

Commenting on the course, Shearmon said “Dr. Richardson has been instrumental in helping us with advice and resources, and we in turn, are delighted to help him in his aims to create a centre of cyber expertise here in Bournemouth.”

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KitGuru says: With Vince Cable announcing that the government will be implementing funding programmes to ‘match what is spent by companies operating in the UK', it looks like the creation of a ‘white army' is well underway. This area of the market – punch and counter punch – is fascinating and we're a little jealous of the students that will be studying in the new unit.

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