A programme that was designed to help SMEs with business growth, stability and security. The Greater Manchester Cyber Foundry was a collaboration between the universities of Salford, Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan and Lancaster.

Growth, stability and security

Students using green screen and camera facilities

Supporting SMEs

Increasingly, we are shifting into a digital world and having to face the problems that come with this. Specifically, businesses are facing new challenges in an ever-evolving market without the knowledge and infrastructure to sustain stability and growth. From taking care of clients and their data in the face of cyber attacks and adhering to new regulations to keeping designs and assets safe from the risk of security breaches.

This programme worked with a broad range of businesses regardless of sector supporting the implementation of new products and services and helping to improve current systems and processes.

By working together, we supported SMEs with the best academic knowledge and insight to make a real difference to Greater Manchester, the North West and the UK as a whole. We’ll use our universities’ cyber security research to innovate and design new products and services. The programme was fully funded for eligible SMEs in Greater Manchester.

Case Studies

Take a look at how other's have engaged with the Cyber Foundry programme.

Blogs

Below are a number of articles from our academics discussing the issue surrounding cyber security.

Technical articles

The Greater Manchester Cyber Foundry includes expertise and knowledge from Academics, Professors and Lecturers from four universities. The technical team are heavily involved in the delivery of our programme and you will find some of their writings, findings, articles and insights here.

Technical Articles

Advanced Persistent Threats – What are they and do they really exist? by Robert Marsh

Advanced Persistent Threats are being utilised by organised criminals and are often developed/sponsored by nation states for a variety of different reasons.

Logging: What is it and why is it important? by Robert Marsh

Log files are highly valuable data sets which are frequently used by software developers and engineers to understand what has gone wrong. Is that the limit to their value?

Formjacking: What is it and how does it work? by Robert Marsh

Formjacking is a relatively new technique which cybercriminals are using to exploit and steal potentially sensitive information from commercial websites.

Counterfeit Products. Protecting your business from imitation hardware by Robert Marsh

As the costs of research and development rise, innovative hardware devices that reflect these increased expenses are being targeted by counterfeit criminals.

Counterfeit Products. Protecting your business from imitation hardware article

Our Partners

The University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and University of Salford, along with their regional neighbour Lancaster University work together on cyber security to maximise their contributions to regional and national agendas.