Cyber Innovation Series 2022/23: CASPER Shield

You can see the team in action at the CyberASAP Demo Day on 22 February, where they will be showcasing their innovation, presenting their pitch and demonstrating their Proof of Concept alongside our 14 other academic teams.

Register here.

About CASPER Shield

Smart homes contain programmable electronic devices that enable home automation and interconnectivity. However, with this comes an increased attack surface, making the smart home an attractive target for adversaries. Conventional home security or network protection systems focus on purely cyber or physical events, rather than a combined approach, meaning they fail to detect certain intrusions.

With recent statistics showing that there are over 200 million smart homes which could be vulnerable, the need to protect smart homes against these types of attacks is increasing. Traditional security systems are either network (e.g. Intrusion Detection Systems) or physical-based (e.g. smart alarm security systems). CASPER Shield offers a combined cyber-physical solution and aims to deliver a second line of defence should traditional front-line solutions fail.

Through extensive market research, the team established that there was no one else offering a combined solution. They recognised that should front-line security systems fail, smart homes would be left vulnerable to attack, so created a more resilient solution that complements and acts as a back-up to such systems.

CASPER Shield looks for abnormal occurrences in a smart home using first-hand cyber and physical data rather than relying only on insecurely transmitted, manipulable second-hand cyber/network data. It deploys algorithms based on Artificial Intelligence to discover anomalies in real time, based on the behaviours of devices and occupants in a holistic manner.

This novel system aims to protect you and your connected things from criminals and make connected living spaces more secure and safe. The approach is built on edge computing, ensuring end-user data security and confidentiality to ensure maximum privacy.

Whilst the end user is smart-home owners, the team hope to work with ISPs (internet service providers) and IoT Smart Home Hub providers, deploying the technology in their Wi-Fi routers or smart home hubs. Their long-term goal is to unify cyber and physical security, and use the same technology to offer security solutions to non-residential buildings.

Meet the CASPER Shield team

With an increasing number of cyber attacks targeting smart-home devices, the team behind CASPER wanted to be able to monitor and prevent both physical and cyber intrusions. Having worked with GCHQ on two other projects, they were successful in sourcing funding for their proposal in cyber security for buildings.

The specialists from Cardiff University have expertise in building domains and anomaly detection, as well as safety and security, computer science and electronics. The team behind CASPER Shield includes:

• Dr Charith Perera – Project Lead and CEO, GCHQ national resilience fellow, BRE secondee, researcher-in-residence at Digital Catapult, with experience in computer science and business administration
• Yasar Majib – CTO, PhD student with 15+ years experience in public safety and security, computer sciences and information security & privacy
• Hakan Kayan – CSO, PhD student and former project engineer and R&D engineer with experience of anomaly detection in manufacturing arms, as well electronics and information security

The team have completed extensive market research and developed their Proof of Concept, and are now working on refining their business strategy and getting a better understanding of R&D. With interest from several large companies within the industry, they are now looking for an industry partner with whom to run a pilot.

Meet them at our Demo Day

Join us on Wednesday 22 February 2023 and be among the first to preview the team’s innovation, alongside a whole host of exciting cyber products and services from leading UK academic teams. Hear their pitches and learn more about each project in this unique showcase of ready-to-commercialise cyber innovations. Register here.

About CyberASAP

CyberASAP (Cyber Security Academic Startup Accelerator Programme) is the only pre-seed accelerator programme in the cyber ecosystem which provides expertise, knowledge and support to convert academic research into commercial products and services.

CyberASAP is funded by the UK Government Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK and Innovate UK KTN.