New partnership to protect key industries from cyber attacks

A new partnership will deliver advanced cyber security capability to help industries adapt to the threats and opportunities of an interconnected digital world.

Cardiff University and global leader in advanced engineering and innovative technology solutions Amentum have joined forces to provide hands-on upskilling courses on the basics of cyber hygiene through to advanced industrial control system security.

Cardiff University, with input and guidance from Amentum, have developed specialist laboratory facilities to test system vulnerabilities in a safe and secure environment.

Their learning materials, content and testbed designs are a culmination of many months collaboration between the academic and industry partners, fusing together both scholarship and real-world practical experience in the Critical National Infrastructure markets such as roads, rail, energy and telecoms.

Professor Burnap, Director of the Cyber Innovation Hub at Cardiff University and Co-Director of the University’s Digital Transformation Innovation Institute, said: “We believe Cardiff and the region around the Capital has an abundance of evidenced excellence in cyber security capability development that can bolster the resilience of global enterprises.”

Cardiff University is recognised by the UK’s leading technical authority, the National Cyber Security Centre, as an Academic Centre of Excellence in both research and education.

The University leads the Wales Cyber Innovation Hub, which brings academia and business together to deliver excellence in the development of cyber security capability to promote the cyber security industry.

Amentum’s highly skilled cyber and digital team, many of whom are based in Cardiff, is growing to meet rising demand across the UK and globally.

Matthew Morgan, Amentum Group Director, added: “Many industries have protected themselves until now by deliberately not connecting some sensitive areas of their operations to the internet.”

The partnership, now well underway, recently saw Professor Burnap and Mr Morgan visit Japan.

There they aim to establish an international cyber capability development offer in Tokyo to support the Hiroshima agreement, a collaboration between the UK and Japanese governments.