Hewlett Foundation lays out MEELLIONS on security

The Hewlett Foundation has found US$45m in its other jacket, and has anointed three lucky US universities to spend on security research.

MIT, Stanford and UC Berkeley will share the simoleons, in a program MIT says is designed to generate a “robust marketplace of ideas”, whatever that is. On a more pragmatic basis, the universities will respectively work on “quantitative metrics and qualitative models” (MIT's Cybersecurity Policy Initiative); policy frameworks (Stanford, via its Cyber Initiative); and predictions of the future (UC Berekeley's Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity).

MIT says its CPI will start by looking at things like threat intelligence sharing in the finance industry, policy frameworks for emerging technologies like drones and autonomous vehicles; and international co-operation.

Stanford's announcement focuses on “how to resolve trust and security problems endemic to networked information technologies, how to govern the Internet in a world where people often disagree about what they value, and how to anticipate unexpected developments in information technologies that could affect national security, intellectual property, civil liberties and society”.

It's harder to encapsulate UC Berkeley's predict-the-future work, but it includes “forward-looking” and “interdisciplinary”, which can't be a bad thing. ®