Superfast Scout software could put more cyber criminals into jail
See all newsExperts at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) are working with a technology company to develop software that is set to drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to identify financial crime. The two-year project, which is co-funded by the UK’s Innovation agency, Innovate UK, could help tackle money laundering and financing of criminal activities, as well as potentially lead to more convictions.
UWE Bristol’s Professor Nicholas Ryder, an expert in financial crime, Dr Phil Legg, who specialises in cybersecurity, and Henry Hillman (cryptocurrency) are working with the team at Synalogik, an SME based in Tewkesbury that develops systems that automate intelligence-gathering and investigation.
Together they are developing Scout™, a system that can detect suspicious online money transfer activity extremely fast and therefore potentially save hours of laborious police work. The program locates financial activity that could be fraudulent, scores it in terms of risk, and does all this in minutes rather than the hours or even days it could take police analysts to sift through data.
The subsequent effect is creating an environment where investigators or analysts have more capacity to conduct immediate lines of enquiries and are significantly more productive than when operating previous obsolete criminal investigation procedures manually.
Professor Ryder said: “This is an exciting project to be involved in and is ground breaking when it comes to tackling activist financing as it will massively speed things up and will therefore save valuable time in tracking down criminals or activists. It has never been done before in this way and the quicker the intelligence comes through, the better.”
He explained that previously it was compulsory for financial institutions to provide data around potentially fraudulent activity to the National Crime Agency (NCA) and this could cause delay in identifying cyber criminals because, in many cases, these were false leads.
“One of the major problems of reporting allegations of financial crime has been that financial institutions have been obligated to report it. That system is flawed because people feel they have to report allegations of money laundering, even when there is no evidence. This has led to too much reporting that’s not necessarily accurate,” said Professor Ryder.
Scott Coughtrie, who is Head of Strategic Operations at Synalogik, said: “Our innovative software is disruptive because the operational capabilities and applications in the differing investigative sectors in which Scout is deployed provide real time investigation and live analysis opportunities which never existed until very recently.”
“The expertise provided by UWE Bristol’s Research and Global Crime, Justice and Security Research Group is essential to understanding criminal methodology, processes, operational practices and patterns of behaviour to enable a complete insight into the risk associated with criminal activity and how we predict, identify, prevent and, in the cases of prosecution, evidence all material and actions.”
Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas. Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation. For more information visit the Innovate UK website.
Related news
18 July 2024
Pioneer who improved lives of people with diabetes awarded honorary degree
An inventor who vastly improved the lives of people with Type 1 diabetes with a series of innovations has been awarded an honorary degree by UWE Bristol.
21 May 2024
Growth for tech innovation in Bristol as Future Space expands
UWE Bristol’s award-winning innovation centre, Future Space, has opened its doors to 10,000 square feet of brand-new office and laboratory facilities.
13 March 2024
Funding awarded to UWE Bristol to monitor the health of UK rivers
UWE Bristol is to receive a share of an initial £7 million investment to improve capability for monitoring the natural environment.
13 February 2024
Funding secured to develop sustainable health-monitoring e-textiles
A UWE Bristol academic has been given a New Investigator Award to further develop wearable sustainable e-textiles to monitor heart patients.
14 December 2023
'Wearable bodyguard' among ten new businesses by young entrepreneurs to receive funding boost
A business developing a ‘wearable bodyguard’ for safer solo journeys is among 10 growing businesses that have received a vital boost, thanks to funding donated by UWE Bristol alum Peter Fane.
04 December 2023
Prestigious fellowship awarded to UWE Bristol academic to fund development of music technology
A UWE Bristol professor has been awarded a fellowship which will fund the development of a radically new approach to digital musical instrument design.
03 October 2023
UWE Bristol becomes an Adobe Creative Campus
The University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) is pleased to announce a new partnership with Adobe, becoming an Adobe Creative Campus.
01 October 2023
UWE Bristol wins funding to develop safer autonomous vehicles
UWE Bristol has secured government funding for research into autonomous vehicles.
28 September 2023
Teaching Excellence Framework: UWE Bristol provides an outstanding student experience
The student experience UWE Bristol provides has been judged to be outstanding in a new sector-wide assessment of teaching quality.
15 August 2023
Innovative new social app to be created under £1.8m project to increase exercise among under-represented groups
A project to encourage people in under-represented groups to increase exercise will see the development of a new social app.
04 July 2023
AI to help people with type 2 diabetes manage their health
A Bristol-based team is developing a ground-breaking AI system to support people with type 2 diabetes in taking control of their health.
16 May 2023
UWE Bristol expands support for start-ups with new incubation facilities
UWE Bristol has transformed its incubation space on campus, bringing together two technology incubators into one area.