GLOBAL DIGITAL SECURITY EXPERTS JOIN FORCES TO TACKLE INCREASED CYBERCRIME THREATS – UK security risk among key topics at free Edinburgh symposium

Some of the world’s foremost digital security experts will gather in Scotland’s capital today (Monday 20^th June) in a bid to tackle the ever-evolving global security threats.

Cybercrime is one of the fastest-growing criminal activities on the planet with the staggering cost to the UK economy alone thought to be upwards of £27bn a year *.

The Edinburgh Napier hosted event comes as the effects are coming to light of the latest in a long line of high profile cyber security attacks – the International Monetary Fund cybercrime breach.

Other recent and security threats have included LulzSec, the infamous hacker organisation, penetrating the security walls of the likes of Sony, Nintendo and the public-facing site of the US Senate and the CIA.

Among the big-hitting speakers at the Edinburgh Napier University hosted event are John Howie, senior director of cloud services at Microsoft, Martin Borrett, director of the IBM Institute of Advanced Security in Europe, Ian Bryant, principal information security specialist at HM Government and Tony Mole, chief superintendent and head of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.

John Howie, senior director of cloud services security at Microsoft said: “Enterprises of all sizes are faced with securing their customers’ data. Cybercriminals are employing ever more sophisticated techniques to penetrate defences and to gather information from the unwary user. As a result, confidence in the Internet is declining just as it increases in relevance to our daily lives.

“Governments, industry and academia need to come together to chart a course to a future, safer online experience for everyone, and to detect, capture and successfully prosecute would-be attackers.”

Bill Buchanan, professor at Edinburgh Napier University’s Institute for Informatics and Digital Innovation and organiser of the event said: “The UK is faced with many new and wide ranging threats which could seriously damage the infrastructure of the country and cause havoc for industry and for everyday people.

“This event brings together experts in the field to continue the debate around digital security and cybercrime. We want to spearhead an integrated approach to understanding these risks and – most importantly – to mitigating them.”

The focus for this symposium is on risk and uncertainty. Some of the topics being discussed include risk within the UK infrastructure, criminal risks and new lines of attack, risks to privacy and identity theft, methods for the detection of electronic fraud and cloud technologies – security and cybercrime risks.

The event is supported by Scottish Enterprise and organised by Edinburgh Napier University, Glasgow Caledonian University, University of St Andrews and Edinburgh University.

* Recent UK Government Report. Source BBC.

For more information or if you are a member of the media wishing to attend this event, please contact:

Kirsty Grant / Hannah Murray at Grayling on 0131 226 2363 / edinburghnapier@grayling.com

About the Security and Cybercrime Symposium

The full list of speakers at the security and cybercrime includes:

For more information about the event visit: http://coe-security-and-cybercrime.net/symposium.html

About Edinburgh Napier University

Edinburgh Napier is a modern university with campuses located around south central Edinburgh. It offers over 200 undergraduate and post graduate courses and has around 15,000 students from over 100 countries. Edinburgh Napier is among the top universities in the UK for graduate employability.