Digital Catapult showcases technology that could “revolutionise” cybersecurity

Early findings of a “pioneering” project show promising signs that a novel technology approach which has been implemented in a research prototype called the Arm Morello Evaluation Board, could “revolutionise” the way businesses protect themselves against cyberattacks in the future.

The findings come as technology companies from across the UK were given the opportunity to experiment for six months with prototype cybersecurity technology developed by Arm and the University of Cambridge as part of Digital Security by Design’s (DSbD) Technology Access Programme.

Last month, 27 participating companies convened at Digital Catapult’s headquarters in London to showcase key findings, such as the new technology’s ease-of-use, the minimal changes needed to existing code and its usefulness in discovering fresh bugs in their own software and in their dependencies.

Most importantly, the showcase has helped prove that this technology can defend against some “notorious” forms of cyber attacks based on memory corruption, including buffer overflows, which can allow cyber criminals to conduct denial-of-service attacks or gain total control over remote hosts.

Access to this technology has been facilitated by DSbD, an initiative led by UK Research and Innovation, which aims to create a more secure hardware and software ecosystem that will improve the foundations of the country’s digital infrastructure.

The Technology Access Programme is delivered by Digital Catapult with support from the University of Cambridge as well as Arm. Whilst currently in its research phase, once commercially available the technology could offer an extra layer of protection in critical applications such as telecommunications, energy infrastructure management and more.

Prof. John Goodacre, DSbD challenge director, UK Research and Innovation, commented: “Through the DSbD Technology Access Programme (TAP), Digital Catapult has been integral to ensuring that UK businesses can review and understand the new technology involved, while preparing for its adoption in their future products or services.

“An ecosystem of companies is now ready to take full advantage of cutting-edge technology once it becomes commercially available. DSbD is all about making a difference across the cybersecurity landscape, the positive result seen today and the enthusiasm of the cohorts really make that goal closer.”

Jessica Rushworth, chief strategy and policy office, Digital Catapult, added: “The DSbD technologies have huge potential to make a difference for all kinds of industries, and the aspiration is that this approach to cyber security will become a standard for the future.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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