A cyber security start-up founded by academics at the University of Bristol is gaining national recognition for its innovative approach to protecting critical infrastructure systems from increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks.<\/p>\n
Hacktonics, co-founded by Prof Awais Rashid, Dr Joseph Gardiner, and Dr Louise Evans from the university\u2019s Department of Computer Science, recently came first out of 11 companies pitching to a panel of experts in the Cyber Den at CYBERUK 2026, a leading cyber security conference.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s work was later highlighted during a meeting with Baroness Liz Lloyd, minister for the digital economy and cyber security, where discussions focused on the UK\u2019s growing need for cyber resilience expertise.<\/p>\n
This success marks another milestone for the university\u2019s thriving innovation ecosystem and its growing reputation for producing world-leading cyber security research and successful start-ups and spinouts.<\/p>\n
Prof Rashid, who has spent more than two decades researching cyber security, said Hacktonics was created in 2023 to address a major skills shortage in operational technology (OT) security \u2013 the systems that underpin critical national infrastructure such as energy networks, manufacturing facilities, and water treatment plants.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that moment, we needed people who understood the actual details of devices and systems, and we needed them to get onto keyboards to deal with things \u2013 and we didn\u2019t have enough of them,\u201d he said, recalling conversations with industry leaders responding to real-world cyber attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s really the problem that Hacktonics is trying to solve.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company provides hands-on cyber security training designed specifically for industrial systems, an area Prof Rashid says has historically lacked specialist expertise.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe can find lots of people to pen [penetration] test websites or enterprise IT systems. The number of people who can test or secure operational technology systems deployed in power plants or water treatment facilities is very small.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hacktonics combines specialist training hardware built by the university team with a free and open source security platform that the company has built, which together allow realistic industrial environments to be recreated for trainees, equipping them with deep technical expertise.<\/p>\n
Pictured: Prof Awais Rashid, co-founder of Hacktonics, meeting minister for the digital economy and cyber security Baroness Liz Lloyd. Image: Plexal<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Firm created to address major skills shortage in operational technology security<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":272345,"featured_media":41759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127714,50204,120903],"coauthors":[137101],"class_list":["post-41758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital","category-technology","category-universities-and-business","tag-bristol-and-bath","tag-featured-story","tag-south-west"],"yoast_head":"\n