16/02/2007

A consortium of academics and industrial experts has won a contract to research human vulnerabilities in security systems.

The deal from the Cyber Security Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) will see the chosen bidder explore how computer issues can best protect themselves from cyber attacks and malware invasions, according to Innovations Report.

Comprising academics from a number of universities as well as IT security experts from firms including BT and Microsoft, the consortium is set to produce a white paper on their findings which will make its recommendations available to the public.

'Vulnerabilities introduced by human behaviour are often at the heart of security problems and I expect this team to make a valuable and practical contribution to the community's understanding of this important issue,' commented Dr Sadie Creese, director of the Cyber Security KTN.

The research team is headed by Professor M Angela Sasse from UCL and features academics from diverse fields such as computing, criminology and psychology.

Cyber Security KTN appoints several working and special interest groups to tackle specific IT industry problems and holds regular events to provide networking opportunities for people within the sector.