Cyber crime big business for law abiding students

The internet threatens many traditional jobs but the cyber security industry is booming as firms grow increasingly worried about hackers.

Wolverhampton University aims to open a £9.5m cyber security test centre in 2019 and presently has a few places left on their newly accredited three year BSc Honours Degree Course in Cyber Security starting this September.

West Midlands and Staffordshire detectives from the Birmingham-based Regional Organised Crime Unit(ROCU) assisted in development of the syllabus.

Dr Kevan Buckley, Head of the Department of Computer Science, explained: "They helped to make it relevant by giving us an insight into various threats to cyber security. The assistance was invaluable."

It is estimated that around 80 per cent of all cyber crime could be prevented if individuals and businesses took even the most basic of online security steps.

Dr Buckley said: "It is crucial that everyone involved in creating the digital economy, especially the technology underpinning it, understands the threats and vulnerabilities that need to be managed.

"We need greater public awareness about the need for cyber security. People learn not to walk down dark subways at night but go down the dark subways of the internet without a second thought."

Mr Steve Garner, Head of Business Engagement in the Faculty, said: "The cyber security industry is now among the fastest growing world wide.

"Companies are really paranoid about getting hacked, particularly those with multiple sites. They want to know how to send data safely from site A to site B."

The £9.5m Wolverhampton Cyber Research Institute will be launched from the University's existing campus prior to its move to the centre of excellence for local enterprise development in Hereford - close to GCHQ and the SAS HQ - in a couple of years.

Professor Amar Aggoun, Head of the University's School of Mathematics and Computer Science, said: "It will drive research at the university and its training facilities. Everything from the security of the fridge in your kitchen to the latest super computer will be covered."

There will be a 'sandbox,' devices protected from the outside world where small businesses, start ups and larger firms can test their security system to ensure it is fully protected.

Those taught the ins and outs of cyber security could also use their skills to commit, rather than stop, crime, warned Sgt Gary Sirrell, who leads the ROCU university partnership scheme.

He explained: "There is evidence that some students on tech courses - ones where they may pick up a degree of knowledge on hacking - are using the skills to commit crime online.

"It could be to hack themselves - for financial gain, maliciously or even as a personal challenge - or to develop harmful malware to be sold on the Dark Web."

Dr Buckley replied: "People in the industry refer to people wearing the white rather than the black hat but we do not see the cyber security course being any more prone to abuse than others."