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Friday January 18th, 2019

BBC Radio 4 Visit B-Secur

Reporter Jonty Bloom visited the Centre for Secure IT at Queen’s University Belfast to find out more about the cybersecurity talent pool and Belfast’s transition from ship-building to a hub for technical innovation. As part of the visit for BBC Radio 4’s Business Show, we welcomed the programme to B-Secur Headquarters at CSIT’s Catalyst campus.

 

B-Secur uses your individual heartbeat to identify you, so for instance sensors in your car’s steering wheel could ensure that you and only you could drive that vehicle.

Jonty got to see our HeartKey® technology in action through a practical test-drive simulation.

“As you touch the wheel, the electrical transfer of information is going onto the steering wheel and our algorithms are actually detecting each of your heart beats, similar to a hospital environment, and extracting all of that information. We’re building a template that is unique to you.” 
CTO Adrian Condon

 

Having identified and enrolled a new driver, the ECG reading taken from contact with the steering wheel continues to provide data to the system. A complex suite of algorithms return valuable health and data insights, including stress and fatigue levels to improve road safety.

“It’s all very impressive… a cutting-edge piece of kit.”
Jonty Bloom, BBC Radio 4

 

CEO Alan Foreman explained the background to B-Secur’s groundbreaking technology, highlighting the rich history that Northern Ireland and Belfast has in electronic and electrical engineering and also in cardiology expertise, including identifying the unique nature of the heartbeat.

 

CTO Adrian Condon discussed the wider applications of our ECG technology, from authentication and access control to buildings and devices through to protected payments.
This is a great programme, giving credit to the achievements of Belfast and Northern Ireland and highlighting the talent the area is generating and attracting, as it becomes more prominent on the global stage, well worth a listen.

Jump to 12 minutes for the Belfast segment.

 

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