Academics tackle hackers

EDINBURGH NAPIER University cyber security experts have created a new data set supporting cutting-edge research into detecting ransomware. This is the malware which attacks computer systems, allowing hackers to demand a ransom for its removal. Newly created NapierOne can now use new methods and updated data sets. One of the data sets which is publicly available is Govdocs1 - now more than ten years old, raising doubts about its effectiveness.

A PhD student at Edinburgh Napier, Simon Davies, (pictured above) worked with university academics on a paper about Digital Investigation detailing their research creating a data set of 50,000 unique files. Davies said: “It is hoped that the adoption of the NapierOne data set into the implementation, development and testing lifecycles of new ransomware detection techniques will streamline and accelerate the development of more robust and effective detection techniques, allowing independent researchers to reproduce and validate proposed detection methods quickly.”

Associate Professor Rich Macfarlane said: “Ransomware has been around for many years - encrypting and deleting users’ files and demanding a ransom from the victim. It has become increasingly common and its sophistication has increased significantly, leading to it currently being the biggest cyber security problem globally.

“This work aims to provide a research data set allowing scientific rigour in research towards fighting the ransomware problem. The data set has been created and successfully used in our ransomware detection research. Containing over half a million unique files representing real world file types, it is broad and diverse enough to be used in a range of cyber security and forensic research areas. We hope the data set will have the same global research impact as the Govdocs1 work.”

Professor Bill Buchanan said: “There are few areas of cyber security that need more of a scientific base than in digital investigations, and there exists a need to make sure investigators have appropriate tools that have been verified and properly evaluated. This data set provides a foundation for researchers to prove their new methods, and further support innovation in the area. The UK is becoming an international leader in the field of safe technology – which involves the development of tools to support digital investigations and threat detection – and this research showcases the development