As part of the British Retail Consortium‘s (BRC) campaign to tackle the threat of cybercrime on the UK retail industry, students are being called upon to offer ideas.
A contest hosted by the BRC has invited students from any higher education establishment to propose ideas on how the government, law enforcement and retail industry can work together to fight digital threats.
The winning candidate will be awarded £500 and be granted the opportunity to present their paper to the BRC‘s Fraud and Cyber Security group and be printed in its publication The Retailer.
A recent survey by Retail Week found that 72 per cent of retail leaders had seen an exponential rise in cyber-attacks in the last two to three years, with 64 per cent reporting attempts on their own systems.
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“We‘re posing a new challenge around a pressing issue and we think that students across the country will rise to it,” BRC‘s crime and security policy advisor Hugo Rosemont said.
“Working closely with partners in academia, this initiative has been designed to provide an opportunity to encourage a future generation of cyber security leaders to engage with issues of rapidly increasing importance to the UK.
“An estimated 53 per cent of reported fraud in the retail industry is cyber-enabled, which represents a total direct cost of around £100 million to UK businesses.
“The retail industry has long been investing in its cyber resilience in this context, however this is a rapidly evolving field and we are inviting the next generation to come forward with suggestions of new ideas and innovation that can help us keep on top of the challenges facing businesses.”
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