The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has launched the Vulnerability Research Initiative aiming to bolster its vulnerability research capabilities and aid the sharing of best practices with the wider cybersecurity ecosystem.

The new Initiative is the NCSC’s programme of research with external partners on VR, with a mission to strengthen the UK’s ability to carry out vulnerability research when it comes to cybersecurity.

The programme aims to work with the best in external vulnerability researchers to deepen the understanding of security on a wide range of important technologies.

The NCSC’s VRI works with industry to understand:

• The vulnerabilities present in a technology or a technology product
• Necessary mitigation measures for fixing vulnerabilities
• How researchers conduct research
• Tooling used to enable vulnerability research

The NCSC hopes that this work increases its capacity for VR as well as sharing VR expertise across the cyber ecosystem.

The core team behind the VRI includes a combination of technical experts, project managers and project managers. This team is responsible for relaying VR requirements from the VR team to the industry partners, as well as monitoring the progress and outputs of the research.

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The research is used to inform the NCSC’s advice when it comes to VR, as well as the guidance of the National Technical Authority when it comes to cybersecurity. It also allows the NCSC to engage with technology vendors, encouraging them to fix bugs and create more secure products and tools.

The NCSC says that in the future it would be interested in extending its engagement on particular topics, and interested parties can contact the team via vri@ncsc.gov.uk.