Research centre hosts former MP and newly appointed Senior Research Fellow to deliver lecture on criminal justice, economic growth and cybersecurity.
By Eve Lacroix (Senior Communications Officer), Published (Updated )
“I want the UK to be the toughest place in the world to commit cybercrime, and the safest place in the world to do business,” said Rt Hon Stephen McPartland, delivering a lecture at City St George’s, University of London in March.
The talk was hosted by the Centre for Online Safety, Safeguarding, Privacy, and Identity (COSPI), a research centre which combines the University’s broad areas of expertise in law, criminology and AI.
In his address, Rt Hon McPartland argued secure cyber supply chains are the bedrock of economic resilience.
While legislation is useful, he argued it is not the be-all and end-all of cyber security. He urged the government to take a holistic approach to implementing cyber security by embedding education into schools and boardrooms, as well as utilising the purchasing power of the public sector.
He believes the UK is ripe to become a global superpower in cyber security and a world leader in Green Cyber.
The talk pointed out the UK’s potential to build a strategic advantage in developing innovative cyber products, services, and standards; as well as future-proofing the UK against ransomware and criminal cyber attacks.
Cyber is an area of increasing global need, as technologies in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and 5G progress at rapid rates.
Rt Hon McPartland was asked by the previous Government to conduct an independent review on the role of cybersecurity in economic growth, and named the final report after him. It was sponsored by the Cabinet Office, with secretariat provided by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
The report found that the UK cyber sector could reach over £23bn in annual revenues by 2030, employ 104k people, and generate £12.6bn for the UK economy each year.
He was recently appointed a Senior Research Fellow in Criminology and Cybersecurity, affiliated to the COSPI research centre at City St George’s. His research will help shape the human-centred cybersecurity axis of the research centre.
He will work alongside COSPI’s co-directors Professor Carrie-Anne Myers, criminologist and sociologist; and Professor Raj Rajarajan, engineer.
The benefit of this cross-expertise research centre is that it “put the human into the tech”, says Professor Myers.
On Rt Hon McPartland’s appointment, she added: “Stephen has a wealth of experience getting the right people around the table to solve a problem.”
For Professor Rajarajan, the event highlighted challenges around the "lack of supply chain security controls of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs)". He called for increased education about cyber security among small business leaders.
The event was chaired by Professor Alison Wakefield, expert in criminology and security studies at the University of West London.
Also in attendance at the event was City St George’s President, Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, who is a software engineer and previously served as the Chief Scientific Adviser for National Security to the British government.
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