The best place to study real-world “cyber” security in the UK is Cambridge. Now look at this list: #cybersecurity

UK Universities awarded Academic Centre of Excellence status in Cyber Security Research

The first eight UK universities conducting world class research in the field of cyber security have been awarded “Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research” status by GCHQ in partnership with the Research Councils’ Global Uncertainties Programme (RCUK) and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS). We hope other universities will also become Centres in the near future as part of an ongoing process.

The Centres of Excellence will benefit the UK by:

  • Enhancing the UK’s cyber knowledge base through original research
  • Providing top quality graduates in the field of cyber security
  • Supporting GCHQ’s cyber defence mission
  • Driving up the level of innovation
  • The Centres of Excellence will help make the UK government, business and consumers more resilient to cyber attack by extending knowledge and enhancing skills in cyber security.

The eight Universities chosen as Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Research are:

  1. University of Bristol
  2. Imperial College London
  3. Lancaster University
  4. University of Oxford
  5. Queen’s University Belfast
  6. Royal Holloway, University of London
  7. University of Southampton
  8. University College London

These Centres will be the first to attain Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research status and will benefit from:

  • Closer collaboration with GCHQ, the UK Cyber Community and industry
  • Partnership endorsement in associated publications and prospectuses
  • Better understanding of Government and industrial cyber issues
  • Helping to formulate the future Cyber Security research agenda
  • Extra funding opportunities and £50,000 capital investment

One can only speculate as to why Cambridge was snubbed in this list; but in the last couple of years a co-author of this blog did attend the Information Security Diploma course at Holloway and – albeit that I know Fred Piper slightly and am aware that he did sterling crypto work there – the course material was informative from a legislative compliance point of view but otherwise would set a real security geek’s teeth on edge with monochroming of grey issues and technical systems inaccuracy.

And Holloway is one of the better ones.

Myself, I applaud the students I have met from several UK universities who – in the face of “useless” security engineering and “ethical hacking” lectures, have pursued self-teaching and attend events like DC4420 and B-Sides.

In a few years they will be the ones to hire.

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