Simon Dyson

Simon is an information assurance Specialist working in the Data Security Centre at NHS Digital. NHS Digital works to provide specialist support to the delivery of all aspects of digital delivery to the health and social care sector. Simon has recently moved to the NHS following 14 years spent as a Detective in overt and covert policing. This included a technical portfolio and investigative roles within Counter-Terrorism Policing and as part of the Regional Cyber Crime Unit in the Regional Organised Crime Unit network in the U.K. Working in these areas Simon has worked alongside numerous U.K Police forces including Counter Terrorism Command SO15 – The Metropolitan Police Service, GMP Greater Manchester Police, West Midlands and International organisations such as Europol and the FBI. Simon alongside his Policing and digital forensics role studied a distance learning qualification and graduated in 2018 with an MSc degree in Advanced Security (Cyber) and Digital Forensics from Edinburgh Napier University (GCHQ certified degree). Completing his dissertation on ‘BLOCKCHAIN INVESTIGATION METHODS FOR ETHEREUM AND ERC20 TOKENS’ he examined cryptocurrency investigation methods and examined forensics in an area with little research on the subject specifically Ethereum. As a specialist in cryptocurrency investigation, he has investigated organised crime groups and given support to a number of policing organisation’s on the subject. Simon has delivered training on the subject of Blockchain and cryptocurrency to Police and other government organisation’s including events with the ‘The Investigator’ a magazine and event organiser in the U.K. Following graduation Simon has continued his research in Blockchain and cryptocurrency investigation and co-wrote a paper with eminent Professor Bill Buchanan and Liam Bell from the Blockchain identity lab at Edinburgh Napier University. ‘The Challenges of Investigating Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Related Crime’ was published in the Journal of British Blockchain Association in November 2018. Simon has given a number of additional speaking engagements including The Hyperledger global forum in Basel Switzerland Dec 2018 entitled ‘Investigations in a Decentralised Landscape (When Blockchains Go Bad!)’. Simon was selected as a speaker from submitted works to give an oral presentation at the 1st Blockchain International Scientific Conference at the Excel London in March 2019. Conference proceedings feature the abstract for his presentation Blockchain Investigation (Beyond the money) that presents new research into decentralised storage and is printed in the May 2019 issue of the Journal of British Blockchain Association.