Department of Applied Computing receives Knowledge Transfer Partnership Funding

Dr Harin Sellahewa and Dr Hisham Al-Assam of the Applied Computing Department, and Deepnet Security based at Bletchley Park have been granted Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) funding from Innovate UK, the UK government agency responsible for supporting innovation. The grant is worth approximately £120,000 over 24 months.

Through this project, Deepnet Security and the Applied Computing Department aim to join their specialised skills and knowledge to develop an authentication tool based on hand signatures to protect confidential information on smartphones and tablets from unauthorised access. Smartphone and tablet users would use their fingers to write their signatures on the touch screen and that would be used as part of a company’s authentication system. The software will offer business customers such as banks a reliable, secure and convenient authentication platform for conducting business operations. The project will transfer specialised knowledge in touch-gesture based biometrics authentication and security systems accumulated in the Department in the last few years to Deepnet Security, who will then deploy cutting-edge authentication technologies in the field.

This is the second KTP project secured by the Applied Computing Department within the last 12 months. The first project, also with Deepnet Secuity, aims to develop a state-of-the-art and secure face recognition component to be integrated into the company’s multi-factor biometrics-based authentication software.

Dr Harin Sellahewa, the Head of Applied Computing and the project’s Lead Academic, said: “With the ever increasing use of smartphones to conduct online transactions, the accurate and convenient user authentication on such devices is of paramount importance. We are very excited about this partnership with Deepnet Security as it enables us to see our most recent research in biometrics on smartphones being realised as a commercial product.”

Dr Hisham Al-Assam, the Knowledge Base Supervisor, added: “After a very successful start of the first KTP project with Deepnet Security to build a face recognition commercial product, I am excited to play the same role as an Academic Supervisor again. My main responsibility in this project is to supervise the KTP Associate, who will be developing this innovative product.”

Yurong Lin, who runs Deepnet Security, added: “This is a very exciting project. It will put us ahead of the competition. It is the technology of the next generation.”

For further information, contact harin.sellahewa@buckingham.ac.uk