A new online safety project led by the University of Strathclyde has received funding from the REPHRAIN National Research Centre.

The Privacy-at-Ransom Testbed (PART) project, led by Dr Shishir Nagaraja in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at Strathclyde, will investigate the three-way dynamics between storage privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), ransomware, and ransomware defences.

Dr Nagaraja’s online safety project is one of eight to have received almost £750k in funding from the Bristol-based REPHRAIN which looks to protect citizens and keep them safe whilst using online platforms.

Commenting on the project, Dr Nagaraja said: “Ransomware defences work by identifying the typical behaviour of ransomware – the steps it follows to find and encrypt data before demanding a ransom – which is known as its kill-chain behaviour.

“However, privacy-enhancing storage technologies (storage PETs) – which include cryptographic algorithms, AI algorithms and data-masking techniques – also undertake these same actions to protect data-at-rest.

“This has significant implications since ransomware defences, such as anti-virus software and firewalls, could actually undermine storage PETS – meaning these defences can’t identify good encryption from bad encryption.”

Ransomware attacks have been on the rise across the world as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, where cyber-attackers have used the virus as a platform to carry out sophisticated attacks.

According to research collected by Atlas VPN, the UK encountered 14.6 million ransomware attacks in the first half of 2021.

The research indicated that ransomware attacks were up 151% compared to the same period in 2020. The US is the most ransomware-threatened country by a significant margin.

Atlas VPN’s research came weeks after news that Scottish businesses were under threat as ransomware attacks doubled in the first six months of this year.

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Commenting on the new funding, Awais Rashid, Director of REPHRAIN, said: “Online harms arising from privacy violations and victimisation of citizens pose a major challenge for our society.

“The new projects funded by REPHRAIN tackle some of the most critical challenges in this regard – from protecting victims of human trafficking and domestic violence through to countering hate speech and mitigating the harmful impacts of medical misinformation online.

“Digital technologies pervade our lives, and we derive immense benefits from the connectivity and services they deliver. This new tranche of projects ensures that we also continue to tackle the misuses of such technologies and empower citizens to protect themselves and their privacy online.”

In its creation, REPHRAIN conceived 25 inaugural projects from its five founding institutions – University of Bristol, University of Bath, University of Edinburgh, University College London, and King’s College London – for protecting citizens online.

These outcomes will be collated and made available via the REPHRAIN Toolbox, addressing a comprehensive set of harms.

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