Detecting the DNA of cyberattacks

A collaboration between Professor Pete Burnap, Cardiff University, and Airbus has led to a completely novel way of detecting and preventing malicious software.

When the WannaCry cyberattack hit the NHS in 2017, causing widespread panic, confusion and disruption, shockwaves were sent across the country.

It was a watershed moment.

Cyberattacks were no longer seen as a risk to our personal devices or data, but as an existential threat to our critical infrastructure which could have potentially devastating consequences.

In the space of just eight hours, more than 200,000 computers across 150 countries were attacked, with total damages ranging from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars.

However, the attack could have been prevented, says Professor Pete Burnap, Professor of Data Science and Cybersecurity at Cardiff University’s School of Computer Science and Informatics.

The idea of creating a live, automated defence against cyberattacks has been the goal of Professor Burnap and his team for a long time.

Using the latest advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, they’ve stepped away from the more traditional approach of identifying malicious software, or malware, using specific code signatures, to tracking its behaviour instead.