News

Cyber criminals targeted by smart Internet security software

Media Release, Monday 1 May 2006

Organised crime syndicates that crash Internet business sites will be thwarted by new security software developed by the University of Melbourne.

Smart network security software that stops attacks of bogus traffic aimed at shutting down Internet businesses has been developed by experts from the University of Melbourne and start-up company IntelliGuard I.T. Pty Ltd.

“This is a critical time for Internet security as more businesses prepare to migrate towards Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and video based systems in the next 12 months,” said Professor Rao Kotagiri, Head of the University’s Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering.

He says that organised crime that targets Internet businesses is an emerging global problem causing major disruption and huge financial losses for Internet based services worldwide.

“VoIP networks are expected to be acutely vulnerable creating widespread incentives for cyber criminals to attack them,” he said.

“Significantly, the University of Melbourne technology is the only software to be introduced into the market which will address the security concerns for VoIP technology.”

The research is based on Dr Tao Peng’s PhD project from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering in collaboration with Dr Chris Leckie and Professor Rao Kotagiri in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering.

The University’s commercialisation arm, Melbourne Ventures, has secured over $AUS1.5 Million for start-up company IntelliGuard I.T. to develop the smart network software into a viable product.

The University of Melbourne is a significant shareholder in IntelliGuard I.T. This represents the University’s first involvement in a start-up company in computer science and software engineering.

The two investors in the company are Uniseed, a venture capital investor focused on university research, and Starfish Ventures, a leading Australian venture capital fund manager. Uniseed is the venture capital fund operated jointly by The University of Melbourne, University of Queensland and University of New South Wales.

“Our approach to securing Internet services is unlike any security offering available today. This is truly a next generation security technology that has been realised through the collaboration of Melbourne University and IntelliGuard IT.,” said IntelliGuard’s new CEO Philip Mulley.

“I have no doubt that this exciting research will position the University of Melbourne as a world leader in the area of Internet security,” he said.

The research project was supported by the ARC Special Research Centre for Ultra-Broadband Information Networks (CUBIN), in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering with the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering.

The technology was then developed in a joint Australian Research Council Linkage Project with IntelliGuard I.T.