Social Mashup

Centre for Secure Information Technologies

I was having a peruse of the latest (1oth – 23rd October) edition of Engineering and Technology magazine from the IET this morning. Contained therein is an interesting announcement from Queen’s University in Belfast of the opening of a new research centre for IT Security. The investment in the £30m establishment is part-funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Technology Strategy Board and a collection of industry ’sponsors’ such as BAE, Thales et al.

Interestingly the centre is researching intelligent CCTV systems that seek to filter and prioritise video, highlighting what it detects to be ‘incidents of note’ to human operators.

Other technologies being explored seek to improve router security, making them more resilient to Denial of Service (DoS) attacks and seeking to prevent the propagation of DoS attacks through “IP networks”.

The diagram below illustrates the areas of application and technology focus for CSIT. Their view is that “one of the key differentiators for CSIT is the multi-disciplinary and system integration aspect of the centre. It is only by integrating some of the different technology ‘pillars’ outlined below, that creative and appropriate solutions to complex real world problems can be delivered.”

You can read more at the CSIT Website. CSIT is part of the campus of the Northern Ireland Science Park.

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Article first appeared in the July 2008 issue of ITNOW.

From interruption to interaction, online advertising has progressed quickly in the last few years, says Steve Nimmons.

Online advertising has been with us since the earliest days of the internet and where eyeballs meet content, advertisers will be close by. The first web portals were (almost uniformly and tastelessly) bedecked with every imaginable flashing widget that might attract a valuable click-through. I will spare the early designers’ blushes but some sites would today come with health warnings for photosensitive epilepsy. Quality had to, and did, improve. ..Continue reading..

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Article originally published by Evaluation Centre / Conspectus, Summer 2008

Steve Nimmons warns of the hidden threat to corporate privacy and reputation lurking within Web 2.0.

The Historical Problem

I recall (approximately eight years ago) reading an interesting poster on social engineering at a well-known electronics company in California. This wall-chart communicated sensible advice for dealing with unsolicited phone calls, ‘chance’ conversations and the importance of discretion when discussing corporate matters on planes, trains and automobiles.
Topics such as tail gating, the ‘risk of gallantry’, the social and psychological tricks used by experienced practitioners to project ‘belonging’, the need for discretion and vigilance in public spaces and of course ‘clear desk policies’ were explained in concise, relevant and accessible language. ..Continue reading..

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