Digital DNA

Computer experts at Napier University have secured funding of £199,879 to help them pre-commercialise a digital fingerprinting and analysis software technique that could help companies crack down on computer fraud.

The innovative patent-pending technology, named ‘digital DNA’, is based on analysing the way in which users access data on their computers and then creating a digital fingerprint that is unique to each user.

Jamie Graves, a research fellow at Napier’s School of Computing, explored the concept of digital DNA throughout his PhD. Now, along with Prof Bill Buchanan, he has secured the two-year funding under the Scottish Enterprise Proof of Concept programme to develop the software through to commercialisation.

Graves believes that the digital DNA technique he has developed uses a particular metric that offers a far higher degree of proof probability that a certain person was behind any changes made to data.

Criminal gangs are growing increasingly aware of the potential rewards of data theft. But court prosecutors are seeking higher levels of proof when it comes to prosecuting data crime, particularly in areas such as auditing and compliance activity.