Experts in fighting Cybercrime - University nominated for National Award

The University of Portsmouth Cybercrime Awareness Clinic has been shortlisted for a national award - The National Cyber Awards.  The University has been nominated for the Cyber Awareness Award category for its work in this area.

The Cybercrime Awareness Clinic has been the result of a two-year project at the University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, which has led to innovative research that provides answers to important questions about a growing national threat.  It has identified an understanding of who, where and when to target those at risk of cybercrime.

The research had three aims:

• To provide advice to vulnerable groups in the local area, such as young people, small/medium  size organisations and older people
• To increase the knowledge of the cybercrime threats and risk to these vulnerable groups and assist the police in tailoring their responses to different forms of cybercrime.
• To develop a transferable model for the implementation of Cybercrime Awareness Clinics across the UK and beyond.

Thanks to the Clinic, vulnerable people and groups have now got a much greater awareness of cybercrime.  In the early stages of the project, the Clinic team focused on developing a network of partners including Hampshire Constabulary, public and private sector organisations, charities and NGOs and schools and colleges. With their support, they were able to create and deliver a range of tailored cybercrime awareness sessions to local community groups, organisations and educational establishments. These sessions included presentations, general talks and workshops, as well as one-to-one meetings. The Clinic team also developed a webpage, which incorporated a comprehensive list of cybercrime awareness and victim support resources.

Dr Vasileios Karagiannopoulos, Director of the Cybercrime Awareness Clinic at the University of Portsmouth, said: “I’m delighted that the Cybercrime Awareness Clinic has been shortlisted for this national award.  It is our hope that our example will inspire similar initiatives in order to create a national cyber awareness network that can work on a local, regional and national level in order to provide training, inform policing and even shape government policy on issues of online harm and risks.”

The National Cyber Awards will be held on 25 March in Manchester.