Cyber Security Enterprise Partnership and Research at Northumbria

The Internet has changed our lives whether we like it or not. This substantial global network was not built with security in mind at the design stage, but network security was later added to it as an afterthought. Hence we use many network protocols and applications that are insecure, where we are trying to ‘fix’ them without an underlying security design. This messy and unplanned scenario is made worse with high-speed networks and with the fast proliferation of IoT devices, making the computer networks vulnerable to all forms of attacks. In this talk, there will be a presentation on how Northumbria works in partnership with the UK police to secure businesses in North East England against cyber attacks. This will be followed by presentations by two Northumbria students Mr Ryan Dale and Ms Lida Ketsbaia, on how AI can be used to detect IoT botnet attacks and on how AI can be used to detect hate speech in social media, respectively, sharing some research results achieved.

About Speaker

Dr Biju Issac is an Associate Professor and Head of Subject (Computer Networks and Security), at the Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK. He has done PhD in Networking and Mobile Communication, having finished Bachelor of Engineering (BE) in Electronics and Communication Engineering and Master of Computer Applications (MCA). He is a Chartered Engineer (CEng), Senior IEEE member, Fellow of HEA and EPSRC Associate Peer Review College member. He was with Teesside University but is currently at Northumbria since 2018 with programme leadership over ‘Computer Network, Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics’. He is the Editor in Chief (EiC) of the International Journal of Information and Computer Security. He has won the ‘Innovator of the Year’ award in Dynamites 2020, organised by Dynamo North East and was shortlisted as a finalist in ‘Excellence in Cybersecurity’ for E&T Innovation Awards 2020, organised by IET, UK. He founded Northumbria Cyber Clinic in 2018 that works with NEBRC (led by the UK police), to secure businesses against cyber attacks. He has published more than 100+ peer-reviewed research papers. His research interests are in networks, cybersecurity, AI/machine learning (text mining/image processing), technology in education etc.