Academic security experts warn of “fake conferences,” the covert corruption of university data, and the “soft way” states can extract information
Photo credits: TeroVesalainen / BigStock
As geopolitical competition over leading edge technology hots up, research security has become an increasingly important topic for Europe universities, who have stepped up scrutiny of who can work in their institutions and measures to protect their data from cyber-attack.
However, they also need to make sure their scientists are protected when travelling abroad, to conferences for example, and don’t spill more information than they should, a research security conference has heard.
“We have many incidents of situations abroad,” said Leo Harskamp, head of crisis management, information security and privacy at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. Academics only report a fraction of the problems that occur, he said. “If I know about three, then probably there will be 10.”
Harskamp took part in a panel discussion on how to safeguard researchers outside the…
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