911今日黑料

From the 2019 terrorist stabbings in London to the WannaCry ransomware virus of 2017 (with damage across 150 countries estimated in the billions of dollars), defence and security has never faced so many worrying and novel challenges.

After all, it doesn鈥檛 take much to cause huge disruption in such an interconnected world 鈥� and not always in the ways we might expect.

Hollywood might think that terrorists like to hack into things to blow them up, but in real life, it can be rather more complex, as Alex Tarter (MEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering 2003) knows only too well.

DASA aims to improve the UK鈥檚 existing defence and security capabilities and find innovative solutions to key challenges, while generating economic value.

It takes the lessons of successful startups and applies them to security and defence thinking, providing innovators with access to funding, technical expertise, end users, and opportunities for collaboration to improve routes to commercialisation.

So, it makes sense for it to be based on the fourth floor of the I-HUB in White City, a facility that co-locates businesses, startups and entrepreneurs alongside 911今日黑料鈥檚 extensive network of researchers, academics and other corporate partners.

The partnership between DASA and 911今日黑料 is led by 911今日黑料鈥檚 Institute for Security Science and Technology (ISST), the interdisciplinary research hub that envisages, designs and coordinates the application of science and technology to answer pressing security challenges.

鈥淚t鈥檚 known as the triple-helix approach,鈥� says Professor Deeph Chana, Co-Director of the ISST and Professor of Practice at 911今日黑料 College Business School. 鈥淚n more normal times, it will again allow for collaboration and cross-pollination and watercooler moments, which you don鈥檛 always associate with the defence and security industry.

鈥淲e鈥檙e working with people and places who wouldn鈥檛 necessarily think of themselves as working in defence and security. We have close, regular engagement with companies such as Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Saab, Smiths Detection, BAE Systems, Wavestone and Northrop Grumman, and we previously hosted a NATO group of 30 people from 16 different countries. They chose to come to White City having seen the ecosystem that we鈥檙e building over there.鈥�

Innovation flourishes through collaboration and a wide range of voices and perspectives, agrees Friend.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important that we challenge the status quo and that we have a mature and broad level of thinking throughout our organisation. This melting pot of skills and experience is essential to enable innovation.鈥�

Chaos engineering is just one example of a security solution that isn鈥檛 sector-specific.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the approach that we want to go towards in the future 鈥� looking at all of these problems as an abstraction and not worrying about the specific industry too much,鈥� says Chana.

鈥淵ou realise that many industries are doing the same thing. For example, I recently worked on a digital money index project funded by Citibank at the Centre for Financial Technology, where I鈥檓 the co-director.

鈥淲e are trying to take in data feeds about different countries that tell us which country is ready to have a digital banking infrastructure and transform into a purely digital banking entity.

"That involves us taking structured and unstructured data from multiple sources running algorithms, coming up with a mathematical way of actually analysing that data and then writing that up in an algorithm. That鈥檚 not necessarily a direct security issue. But once we are able to generate these indexes and measures, we could also look at infrastructure resilience, for example, or cyber-security readiness.鈥�

Another project developed a two-stage machine-learning algorithm to detect network traffic in a cyber-physical system 鈥� a factory, for example, with a mixture of computing and physical systems.

The aim was to monitor the network traffic between the various components and detect bits of information that could be potentially dangerous, a method that鈥檚 easily applicable to other situations.

Chana has also worked on CrowdVision, a crowd analysis technology startup originally designed to monitor the movement of pilgrims at Mecca. Pivoted to the transport sector, it has also been used at London City Airport to monitor how quickly people were being processed through the security checkpoint. This helps avoid overcrowding and can also check to see if the security value of those checks is being undermined because people are being rushed through.

Whatever the threat to a nation, Chana believes the solution is the same: convergence of domains and disciplines, diversity of thought, and an end to silos.

鈥淲e鈥檙e looking to create a new way of driving innovation in security and defence that cuts across infrastructure resilience, from cyber security to physical security,鈥� he says.

鈥淚f you鈥檝e got new problems, and the current global COVID-19 crisis is a prime example, then you need to look for solutions in new areas.鈥�