NRF, Israel's Tel Aviv University grant awards to 4 cybersecurity research projects

THE National Research Foundation (NRF), together with Israel's Tel Aviv University (TAU), has given awards to four local cybersecurity research projects, including one that looks at improving cybersecurity through modelling human behaviour.

These four projects, undertaken by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU), were chosen based on the relevance and significance of their research areas to create impact in Singapore, said NRF.

The NTU projects involve improving cybersecurity through optimal policy design and human behaviour modelling, and the quantification of cyber risk. The SMU projects will look at deterring cybersecurity threats through Internet topology (the arrangement of networks), law enforcement and technical mitigation, as well as the safety and privacy of smart city mobile applications.

NRF director of programmes George Loh said that Israel has strong cybersecurity capabilities and has developed technologies for 10 per cent of the world market.

The collaboration will "enable high quality cross-disciplinary and collaborative research in areas such as cybersecurity for smart cities and cybersecurity policies and governance, which complements the research at our local universities", he said.

The NRF-TAU collaboration programme was launched in May last year by NRF's National Cybersecurity R&D Programme and TAU's Blatvatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center. The programme aims to support collaborative research projects on cybersecurity for Smart Nation and Internet of Things, and in the areas of behavioural study and social science as well as policy and governance.