Information Security Group | Royal Holloway, UoL

📢 Check out our 2024 - 2025 Annual Review!

There's a range of pieces from academics in the ISG exploring our research, including introductions to new members of faculty!

You can also explore our back catalogue to 2006 - 2007!

www.royalholloway.ac.uk/research-and...

First CRANE Regional Seminar hosted at Royal Holloway Sign-up for a discussion on cyber resilience, AI, and collaboration between academia, industry, and government

📢 We are hosting the first South East & London Regional Seminar on behalf of CRANE at @royalholloway.bsky.social, supported by our own Dr Fauzia Idrees.

When: Wednesday 12 November, 5pm - 6pm
Where: Hybrid, Shilling Lecture Theatre

More information ⬇️

www.royalholloway.ac.uk/research-and...

ISG academic provides expert comment on cloud services outages Dr Saqib Kakvi provides a range of comments to the media following major outages in cloud services in October 2025

📢 Our own Dr Saqib Kakvi has provided expert comment to a range of media following last month's cloud services outages from AWS and Microsoft Azure.

Find out more ⬇️

www.royalholloway.ac.uk/research-and...

YouTube video by Reuben Adams AI Powered Malware Is Coming

📢 Our own Prof Keith Martin joined Reuben Adams's Steering AI podcast examining the role of AI-enabled malware, alongside ESET's Tony Anscombe.

Well worth a listen!

YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=8eY0...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/1mN7...

AI in practice: skills, security, and shifting realities This lecture explores the real-world implications of AI—beyond the hype and into the grounded realities of how it's reshaping our work, education, and societal expectations.

On 12 November, we are delighted to welcome Siân John MBE to deliver the second Fred Piper Annual Information Security Lecture at @royalholloway.bsky.social.

Registration is free but mandatory - follow the link below for more information and to sign-up.

www.royalholloway.ac.uk/about-us/eve...

Rethinking what information security means to higher-risk communities Research by Professor Rikke Bjerg Jensen is helping to redefine how the needs of people in higher-risk contexts are considered when designing security technology.

📢 Our own Prof Rikke Bjerg Jensen has shared insights into examining and working with higher-risk communities, including the 'Social Foundations of Cryptography' project, using ethnography to explore the needs of activists in large-scale protests.

www.royalholloway.ac.uk/about-us/sto...

Securing converged technologies: insights from subject matter experts

📰 Check out this new report funded by the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 'Securing Converged Technologies: Insights from Subject Matter Experts'

Written by our own Dr @andrewdwyer.bsky.social and @mikaelabrough.bsky.social (CDT in Cyber Security)

www.gov.uk/government/p...

"...if an attacker somehow manages to directly access an impacted mobile device, but it is more of a secondary risk than a primary one."

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"...Having access to names linked to mobile numbers creates avenues for an attacker to conduct more plausible personalized phishing attacks."

But for exposed SIM card numbers and personal unlocking key (PUK) codes:

"Knowledge of PUK codes presents a possible risk..."

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📢 Our own Prof Keith Martin has provided comment to @theregister.com on the Orange Belgium data breach:

"Large data breaches of this type simply should not happen, regardless of the utility of the stolen data...

www.theregister.com/2025/08/21/o...

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An introduction to the ISG Mentorship Programme Overview The ISG Mentorship Programme is designed to provide support to MSc students studying with the Information Security Group at Royal Holloway, University of London. It connects students with alumni and industry experts who can share career advice, work experience, and guidance. The programme provides a safe and supportive space where students can build confidence, learn from real-world experience, and prepare for future careers in information security. Who will be involved? All students studying on the MSc Information Security, MSc Information Security (Year-inIndustry), and MSc Applied Data Science & Cyber Security courses will be eligible to join. Mentors will be chosen from ISG alumni and professionals willing to volunteer. How will it work? Near the beginning of the academic year each student joining the programme is matched with one mentor, with the choice of mentor being based on the student’s career interests and goals and the background and experience of the mentor. The role of a mentor is to give advice on careers, workplace skills, communication, and professional practice. Meetings between student and mentor can be online or in-person, typically once a month, at a time that suits both parties. At the beginning of the process a simple written agreement will be distributed to set clear expectations on both sides, and to ensure respect and confidentiality.

📢 Call for Mentors in the @isg-rhul.bsky.social!

This year, we are launching a mentoring scheme for our masters students to help them navigate their path in information and cyber security as well as data science!

If you’re interested, please email c.mitchell@rhul.ac.uk with a short CV.

These exercise apps reward steps with freebies – but which ones are worth the effort? The walk to work could earn you rewards such as cheaper coffee or Amazon discounts. We put the apps through their paces

📣 Our own Dr Maryam Mehrnezhad is featured in @theguardian.com providing security advice and tips on how to exercise(!) security and privacy in fitness apps!

www.theguardian.com/money/2025/a...

📢 Our own Prof Keith Martin's Third Edition of Everyday Cryptography is now published!

To find out more about the book (with links to purchase!), see Keith's website: www.isg.rhul.ac.uk/~martin/ever...

📢 Check out this new edited book collection on "Advanced Cryptographic Protocols" by our own Dr Liz Quaglia and Prof Daniele Venturi (Sapienza, University of Rome) available here: www.decifris.it/koine/vol4

They discuss why a printed book is still important in cyber security education today, how the role of educators is transforming, and why a primer is necessary for students.

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Cyber Security Foundations: security by the book - Security Insights There’s no shortage of information on cybersecurity online. But could a new book hold the answers to our cybersecurity challenges? Perhaps not, or at least not on its own. But a new book from the [......

Listen to our own Prof Keith Martin, @jhappa.bsky.social, and Dr Konstantinos Mersinas discuss their new book, Cyber Security Foundations on the Security Insights podcast!

www.securityinsights.co.uk/podcast/cybe...
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technical cyber security research and how it can bring together researchers from the UK's research institutes on cyber security to examine contemporary automation.

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Annual Conference 2025 Friday, 6 June 2025 Time: 9:00 am - 5:30 pm Venue: RAEng, Prince Philip House Registration Cost: Free VeTSS Annual Conference 2025 The VeTSS Annual Conference is a key event for professionals fro...

📢 Our own Prof Lizzie Coles-Kemp at the annual conference of The Research Institute on Verified Trustworthy Software Systems (VeTSS) last week

Her talk, "Sociotechnical Futures: sociotechnical security for an age of cyber automation", considered ongoing deep socio-

vetss.org.uk/annual-confe...
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Keith also delivered a keynote at the Phoenix Summit last month titled, "Q-Day: The Quantum Security Apocalypse or the Crypto Meltdown that won't Happen?"

If you want to know more about cryptography research in the ISG, check out their group page here:

cryptography.isg.rhul.ac.uk

Is a quantum-cryptography apocalypse imminent? The news that a certain class of cryptographic algorithms just got 20 times easier to hack has set hares running.

📢 Our own Prof Keith Martin has been writing and speaking about quantum computing and its impact upon cryptography!

See his clear messaging in The Conversation UK on "Is a quantum-cryptography apocalypse imminent?"

theconversation.com/is-a-quantum...

I'm delighted that with colleagues - Co-Is Lizzie Coles-Kemp and Danilo Francati - that we have been successful in the first SALIENT funding call with our project, "Fake in the Community"

Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

📢 Want to find out more about our MSc Information Security?

Come to our Postgraduate Taster Session with Dr Maryam Mehrnezhad and Olga Angelopoulou on Usable Security and Privacy!

🗓️ When: Monday 19th May, 1pm (UK time) online

➡️ Register: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/4826ea...

#cybersecurity

📢 Calling ISG Alumni

For this year's ISG newsletter, we are introducing a new section called 'Alumni Corner' for our alumni to share major achievements.

Form closes on Friday 18 May at 6pm (UK time).

forms.office.com/e/i2YiyACmJ7

Security Standardisation Research The SSR 2024 conference proceedings discuss the research problems deriving from studies of existing standards and the development of revisions of these.

📚 Our own Prof Chris Mitchell has co-edited the Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Security Standardisation Research, published as LNCS 15559. This includes a paper by Cheok leng Ng and our own
Dr Maryam Mehrnezhad!

This can be accessed at: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Teaching Cybersecurity With Principles That Endure Cybersecurity education can't be built on tools alone. It must prepare students to think critically, navigate complex systems and address the human dimensions of

📢 Our own Prof Keith Martin spoke with Anna Delaney from Information Security Media Group (ISMG) on teaching cyber security in a world that is rapidly changing, from fragmented digital governance to the use of AI.

Check out the video!

www.bankinfosecurity.com/teaching-cyb...

📢 Our own @rikkebjerg.bsky.social was interviewed for @themarkup.org discussing her co-led Social Foundations of Cryptography project (for more on this, see here: social-foundations-of-cryptography.gitlab.io) and her academic journey.

themarkup.org/hello-world/...

Birthday freebies: how to cash in on UK retailers’ gifts and discounts Join a loyalty scheme and you often get a reward or discount on your special day – but it may have strings attached

📢 Our own Maryam Mehrnezhad gave some insights into how to protect yourself online in The Guardian this past weekend - check it out!

www.theguardian.com/money/2025/m...

New book covers what matters in cyber security ‘Cyber Security Foundations: Fundamentals, Technology and Society’ written by colleagues in the Information Security Group (ISG) has just been published by Kogan Page

📢 Earlier this month several ISG staff - Keith Martin, Jassim Happa, and Konstantinos Mersinas - alongside former colleague Guido Schmitz published their new book providing the foundations to understand cyber security!

www.royalholloway.ac.uk/research-and...

Rethinking Security from the Ground Up – The Markup Professor Rikke Bjerg Jensen explores how social context shapes security

"Rethinking Security from the Ground Up" an interview with
@rikkebjerg.bsky.social (based in @isg-rhul.bsky.social) in @themarkup.org It's a good interview, go read it.

themarkup.org/hello-world/...

ISG Academic provides expertise on ‘offensive cyber’ to UK Parliamentary committee Dr Andrew Dwyer, Lecturer in Information Security, gave expert evidence to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy during a session on ‘offensive cyber’.

📢 Our own @andrewdwyer.bsky.social gave evidence to the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS) on offensive cyber - demonstrating the ISG's key work in providing expertise to policy in information and cyber security

www.royalholloway.ac.uk/research-and...