Trend Micro sets up Toronto lab for ‘ethical hackers’

TORONTO — International cybersecurity company Trend Micro is setting up a Toronto research lab for “ethical hackers” in collaboration with Canadian telecom giant Telus Corp.

Trend Micro Canada — part of a global company that originated in Silicon Valley but relocated its headquarters to Tokyo — said it expects the new office to house about 100 of the cybersecurity researchers within two years.

Trend Micro already has a 200person team in Ottawa that heads a global operation that provides cybersecurity for cloud computing.

The Ottawa operation began as Third Brigade, an independent startup that Trend Micro bought in 2009 for an undisclosed amount.

Trend Micro also recently acquired a Montreal firm that does research into artificial intelligence and machine learning.

About 25 members of Trend Micro’s new Toronto “threat” research team are currently working from a Telus office but they will move to a new Trend Micro location by mid-2018.

Trend Micro Canada president Wael Mohamed said that Telus is a leader in detecting network vulnerabilities and that its research is used by cybersecurity companies around the world, including Trend Micro.

Telus said the strategic relationship with Trend Micro will result in increased Canadian-specific research into cybersecurity and enhance it with Trend’s global perspective.

In addition to the Cybersecurity Research Centre in Toronto, Trend Micro has seven other research centres around the world.