A new Global Centre for Cyber Security at the University of Oxford will coordinate international work on cyber threats, with help from the British government.
The Centre, announced by Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague, will receive £500,000 ($766,000) in UK government funding every year, and will cooperate with other governments to deal with cyber threats. The center will also work with private sector companies and international organisations, towards the goal of becoming a “leading global resource for understanding how to achieve effective cyber security.”
The Centre will be part of the Oxford Martin School, which supports 30 research teams from colleges across the University of Oxford.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “The new Global Center for Cyber Security and Capacity Building in Oxford University’s Martin School will coordinate global work on cyber threats and cyber policies which will help protect the UK’s security. We are dedicating £500,000 per year to the Centre, to be a beacon of expertise and put the UK at the forefront of cyber policy development.”
Martin Borrett, Director of the IBM Institute for Advanced Security Europe, said: “The Cyber Security Capacity initiative is an exceptionally timely and important contribution to the activities of the global community seeking to secure cyberspace. The IBM Institute for Advanced Security Europe look forward to working with Oxford and their partners to ensure a safe and sustainable cyberspace for all.”
Last month, the British government announced a new London-based intelligence unit, which will pair government intelligence experts with major companies in the UK.
The new unit, described as a “fusion cell”, will be made up of team of 12 to 15 analysts from intelligence agencies MI5 and GCHQ. The analysts will work from an undisclosed location in London to build an "intelligence picture" of threats to the UK, which will be shared with 160 leading companies.
