Impact case study database

Our research outlined above has resulted in two highly successful spin-outs, and has created impact across a number of key cybersecurity areas.

Cyber security:

Our Digital DNA work created a novel methodology for detecting any type of computer activity using DNA matching methods. Following completion of Grave’s PhD, Proof-of-Concept funding from Scottish Enterprise was awarded [P1]. As a result Jamie Graves and Bill Buchanan co-founded Inquisitive Systems [C15]. This company was then rebranded as ZoneFox.

The main application area was in the protection digital assets, especially around IP theft [C1] and in Artificial Intelligence applied to Cyber Security. Graves was CEO of ZoneFox, until its acquisition by Fortinet in 2018.

ZoneFox initially received angel investment of over GPB2.5million. The company integrated its work, with a major contract, into Wolfson Microelectronics, which detects the movement of digital assets. The company received several awards for innovation and enterprise. It has developed an advanced data protection system, which is being used across a number of organisations, to detect IP theft events, including with Rockstar, Wolfson, Craneware and Cirrus Logic [C2].

In 2017, ZoneFox received another GBP3.6million in funding and grew to a staff count of 30 with offices in Edinburgh and London [C3]. The company won industry awards including International Contribution to Cyber-Security and the overall Champion of Champions at the Scottish Cyber Security awards in 2016 [C4], winner of CIR Risk Management Award for Cyber Security Product of the Year in 2018 [C5] and was included in the Real Business Top 50 most disruptive UK companies in 2017 [C6]. In 2018, it was acquired by Fortinet for GBP28million. In 2019, ZoneFox software was selected to protect all the Scottish Government employees and data across 15,000 endpoints [C12].

In Dec 2020, Edinburgh Napier University was awarded a prestigious Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence position for Dr Jamie Graves. His role will be to encourage entrepreneurial activities and help turn leading research and ideas into commercial impact and success.

Digital Forensics

A Scottish Enterprise Proof of Concept grant [P2], followed by a Home Office SBRI grant [P4] supported the commercialisation of the digital triage research, which had built on the earlier work on digital fragments. This led to the creation of the spin out company, Cyan Forensics, in 2016. Cyan Forensics' focus has been on faster triage of digital data and in the detection of contraband content, and which uses the core methods developed within the Napier research [O2][O3]. Bruce Ramsay, who was a research fellow on the Napier team, is now the company’s Chief Technical Officer. According to Cyan Forensics CEO Ian Stephenson: “ *A core part of the success of the company has been translation of the core research work undertaken within the university of triage methods. The scientific methods and the evaluation applied has since been used to build the core of the IP within the company, and is a fundamental part of our product range.*” [C11]. The company now works with UK police forces on real-life investigations, using the methods developed through the research.

By 2020, the company had received over GBP3.5million in cumulative equity and grants, including GBP900,000 in an investment round led by Mercia Fund Managers in 2018 and a further GBP1.3million in 2019 [C7].

Cyan Forensics won the PitchGovTech event in Paris as part of GovTech Summit 2019, which highlights technologies across Europe that can have a major impact on the public sector [C8]. The company also received a Cybersecurity award in the same year for "Best Cyber Breakthrough" [C13].

In 2019, Cyan Forensics partnered with the Home Office and UK-based companies Qumodo and Vigil AI to produce new tools to improve the capability of the Child Abuse Image Database (CAID) [C9]. These included: a fast-forensic tool to rapidly analyse seized devices and find images already known to law enforcement; an image categorisation algorithm to assist officers to identify and categorise the severity of illegal imagery; and a capability to detect images with matching scenes to help identify children in indecent images in order to safeguard victims [C9]. Together, the tools speed up investigations of online child abuse and limit the number of indecent images of children that police officers have to view. The then Home Secretary Sajid Javid called the technology “ game-changing” and said that was *“vital in the fight against online child abusers.*” [C9].

Cyan Forensics now works with Police Forces across the UK in time-critical Child Sexual Exploitation and Counter Terrorism cases, and their product has been proven to provide digital evidence between 20 and 100 times faster than was previously possible [C14].

Cyan Forensics’ products are also in use with law enforcement agencies in the USA. In 2019, the company established a partnership with the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in Virginia [C10]. NCMEC’s CyberTipline is a centralized reporting system for child sexual exploitation and receives reports from the public and internet companies. This is then distributed to agencies such as the FBI, Homeland Security, the Secret Service, the US Military, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces (ICACs), and law enforcement in over 110 countries. John Clark, President and CEO of NCMEC, said: “ Timing is often critical in these cases, and we’re excited at the prospect of new technology that could provide faster access to information that will help rescue children from abuse. Cyan Forensics’ technology has the power to make a big impact in the fight against online child sexual abuse imagery.” [C10].

The technology is also being used to identify harmful content online. Company CEO Ian Stephenson said: “ We are also taking the same technology we have deployed in Law Enforcement and applying it to Online Safety, where we are at the heart of international efforts to block and remove child abuse and extreme terrorist content from social media sites.” [C11].