Cybersecurity research secures funding for commercialisation efforts

Two initiatives from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) have secured funding through a programme aimed at enhancing the commercialisation of cybersecurity research.

Philleted Phish and Telehealth CybrShield have garnered support from the Cyber Security Academic Start-Up Accelerator Programme (Cyber ASAP), funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). This initiative assists researchers in transforming ideas into viable businesses while honing their entrepreneurial skills.

The team behind Philleted Phish expressed their enthusiasm, stating, “This is a very exciting opportunity. It has the potential to reduce the amount of successful cyber-attacks on small businesses, which will in turn increase their profitability and reduce the flow of funds to organised crime. Domestic users will be able to use the service too, keeping them, and their children, safer online.”

Meanwhile, the Telehealth CybrShield team is focused on safeguarding medical data using sophisticated cryptography and AI algorithms to encrypt online information, thus thwarting cyber attackers.

The Telehealth CybrShield device addresses two critical challenges: financial losses and cyberattacks in the healthcare sector. Dr Richard Smith, Dr Mujeeb Rehman, Dr Arslan Shafique, and Dr Muhammad Kazim are collaborating with healthcare providers to commercialise this technology.

Dr Smith explained, “Telehealth Cybrshield provides an innovative, highly-efficient and secure device for protecting medical data. It provides real-time, robust security by utilizing a future-proof, low computational complexity approach for healthcare data. It mitigates cyber threats by ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of the data it protects and seamlessly integrates with existing data processing devices.”

Nationally, DCMS funding has catalysed additional investments totalling £12,382,895, encompassing venture capital and angel investment.

Cyber ASAP facilitates a conduit for bringing innovations to market, translating research into technologies, products, and services that are commercially viable. Both DMU projects are in line with the UK Government’s objectives to enhance cybersecurity protection.

Philleted Phish is designed to deter individuals from falling prey to scams and online fraud by identifying and intercepting phishing emails. Such cyber attacks frequently begin with deceptive emails that lead recipients to inadvertently click on harmful links or share private information.

Cyber attacks inflict a cost of £37 billion annually on UK businesses, with approximately 90 per cent originating from phishing emails. Dr Iryna Yevseyeva, Professor Eerke Boiten, Dr Viktor Basto-Fernandes, a part-time lecturer at DMU, and PhD student Trevor Wood are developing a proof-of-concept software aimed at smaller businesses and individual users. While existing commercial solutions are available, they are generally not suitable for laptop use and are intended for larger organisations.