A cyber security research centre to be established by GU and DRDO

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Gujarat University and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to establish the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Centre for Cyber Security Research (SVP-CCR).

The SVP-CCR, which is being built as a centre of excellence, will perform multidisciplinary scientific and applied research in crucial and futuristic defence and security technologies. The DRDO would fund it with Rs 100 crore over three years, allowing it to expand its test and evaluation facilities for ongoing research at the centre.

According to one of the participants, a three-member expert group was constituted to formulate the research center's aims and operations.

The SVP-CCR will be located on the top floor of Gujarat University's future Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Centre for Extension and Research and Innovation (CERI) on its campus, according to the MoU signed between the two agencies in October 2021.

 "The centre will take care of future threats to national security and offer technology to protect systems from insilico cyber attacks," Gujarat University Vice-Chancellor Professor Himanshu Pandya told.

The facility will engage academics, faculties, incubators, and other institutes, industries, DRDO laboratories, and industrial research laboratories in collaborative research activity in five verticals — IoT, cyber security, malware analysis, cryptocurrency analysis, and cyber defence. More verticals would be added in the future, with at least 100 researchers working under each vertical, according to Pandya.

The DRDO will present problem statements for students to work on with the assistance of faculty members as lead investigators, as well as specialists and professionals.

A Governing Council will oversee the centre, while a Technical Expert Committee will analyse and evaluate projects (TEC). According to the instructions, any changes to the MoU must be made with the Governing Council's suggestion and subsequent permission from the relevant authorities.