The Institute of Modern Network Technology and Information Security at Shantou University evolved over many years from Shantou University's "Institute of Modern Network Technology." Grounded in information security and modern information services, the institute focuses on addressing key issues in the application research of current computer technology, network technology, and information security technology in modern information services. The "Institute of Modern Network Technology" was established in 2003, relying on the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Digital Signal and Image Processing Technology and the computer science discipline. Through the construction of two key "211 Project" phases—the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" and the "Tenth Five-Year Plan"—it has developed distinctive, stable, and comprehensive research directions, and has become a key industry-academia-research base in the Chaoshan region for research and development in network technology, information security, and modern information services.
The research team possesses a strong educational background. All members have led or participated in national or provincial-level research projects, and possess strong research capabilities and project development abilities. At the same time, the institute has attracted more than ten senior enterprise technical personnel and scholars from related disciplines as part-time members. The institute has undertaken more than 30 research projects and published more than 30 high-level papers; obtained multiple software copyrights; and developed multiple scientific and technological achievements with intellectual property rights that have been widely applied. Among these, the "Electronic Product Trading Platform with Digital Copyright Protection" received the First Prize of the Shantou Municipal Science and Technology Progress Award, and the "Series of Research and Applications of Digital Rights Management Systems" received the Third Prize of the 2007 Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Award, yielding significant economic and social benefits.
The institute has established close cooperative relationships with well-known IT companies such as Shantou Telecom, South China Communications, and Sangfor. Together with units including the Shantou Municipal Economic and Information Commission and Shantou Telecom, it established a research group on informatization construction for small and medium-sized enterprises, providing technical support for the informatization construction of SMEs in the Chaoshan region and across Guangdong.