AI and cyber attack centre will be 'leading force'

A university's new centre looking at the global rise in cyber attacks and artificial intelligence (AI) will be a leading force in the field, its director says.

The Centre for Cyber Resilience and Artificial Intelligence (CYBRAI) opened at Wolverhampton University on Friday.

It will focus on research into limiting cyber attacks and the growth in AI, bringing together academia, industry, and government to tackle the evolving digital challenges.

Director Prof Zeeshan Pervez said the centre was the first to bring the two fields together.

A team of 20 academics will work at the university - itself the victim of a cyber attack in 2024 - looking at strengthening the recovery process after a business or operation suffers a cyber attack.

They will also monitor and research the growing role of AI in innovation and managing any threats.

"Cyber attacks will keep on happening - that's what we have seen in the case of Marks and Spencer and the Co-Op - that the attacks will happen," Mr Pervez said.

"But it's all about how quickly you can recover from those attacks."

He said researchers at the centre would try to "reduce the collateral damage" caused by system breaches.

"If they are able to get in, how we can stop them and how we can make sure our systems are secure from from that point on," he said.

The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025 stated 43% of businesses and 30% of charities experienced a cyber-security breach or attack in the last 12 months.

A National Audit Office (NAO) report in January said there were "substantial gaps in cyber-resilience" in 58 critical government IT systems.

"In Europe there's a significant rise of a 35% increase in cyber attacks on organisations - they are approximately facing 1,300 attacks on a weekly basis per organisation in the EU," Mr Pervez added.

The centre's work on AI would also be crucial given its fast-moving nature, he said.

"Radio took 38 years to reach 50 million users, television took 13 years and Facebook took one year to reach 50 million users and ChatGPT took two months to reach 100 million users," he said.

"AI is powering the digital transformation."

Being based in Wolverhampton complimented a growing number of IT and cyber-security firms in the West Midlands, Mr Pervez said, adding the centre was unique in the UK for its joined-up approach in the two fields.

"Our niche is that we are bringing both of them under one umbrella because they go hand in hand with each other."

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