The government's spy agency, GCHQ, has launched an Academic Research Institute to investigate new ways of automatically analysing software to reduce its vulnerability to cyber threats.
It is the second institute focused on cyber security to be launched by the government in just six months, with the first being announced in September 2012.
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Funded by a £4.5m grant, the new research institute will carry out research into techniques for automated program analysis and verification of software. The information gathered will be fed to businesses, individuals and government in a bid to ensure that software will be used in a secure way when installed on operational networks.
The academic institute is made up of teams from six universities, and has been established by GCHQ and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through the Research Councils UK (RCUK), Global Uncertainties Programme, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).
The universities were chosen following a competitive process in which they had to devise new research projects to address the challenges of vulnerability discovery, malware analysis and classification of code, and improved defences and mitigations.
The six teams selected were: the University of Manchester, Queen Mary, University College London (UCL), Imperial College (also part of UCL), University of Edinburgh, and University of Kent (working with UCL).
David Willetts, minister for universities and science, said: "This institute will build on the UK's global reputation for cyber security research and innovation. It complements wider work government is doing in partnership with academia and industry to boost the economy through improved cyber security."
The new institute follows on from the £3.8m Academic Research Institute launched in September 2012, which was aimed at improving the understanding behind cyber security threats.
