Queen's University to found anti-cybercrime centre

Queen's University Belfast has landed £25m to set up a new centre to combat online crime.

The Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) will be situated at Queen's Institute of Electronics Communications and Information Technology.

The CSIT will examine problems including how to lock down mobile networks, how the healthcare industry can secure information in transit over unsecure networks, and airport security.

The centre will house experts in fields including "data encryption, network security systems, wireless-enabled security systems and intelligent surveillance technology", according to the university.

The funding has been contributed by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Technology Strategy Board, who contributed £6.95m and £2.5m respectively. Industry added a further £7m, with Queen's itself providing a supplementary £8m.

The £25m will help provide five years' funding for the centre, after which time it's envisaged that the centre will be able to finance itself.

A second 'knowledge and innovation centre' based in Leeds will also share in the funding and will work on technologies and therapies for the UK's ageing population.