THE THREE PILLARS OF CYBERSECURITY: INDUSTRY, POLICY, AND RESEARCH
In a world where devices outnumber people and attackers are becoming more creative, cy ber security is too important and too complex for a fragmented approach—a multi-tie red, integrated strategy is required.
The field of cybersecurity includes a range of complex knowledge areas, from cryptography to machine learning and policymaking. The issues it presents— a growing concern for regulators worldwide — must be tackled collaboratively. Strong connections between researchers and industry are one crucial way to drive innovation in the field. At theuniversity of waterloo’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute, this type of coordination is at the forefront of the research man date.
Transferring skills from research to industry
“This is not just a Waterloo challenge — it’s a government, industry, and academic institution challenge,” says Sanjeev Gill, Associate Vice President of Innovation at the University of Waterloo. “Hackers are well-funded (and sometimes state-funded) entities with massive resources and phenomenal talent. There’s constant churn, and a growing need within industry for refreshing cybersecurity skills. It’s important to be able to effectively and efficiently translate what’s going on in the research world into teachable assets for the world of industry.”
The University of Waterloo is developing leading initiatives to
Strong connections between researchers and industry are one crucial way to drive innovation in the field.
address these challenges for industry. Since the cybersecurity needs of businesses evolve at such a rapid pace, expecting mid or late- career professionals to attend years-long training programs is unrealistic and ineffective. Micro- credentials and relatively quick training for professionals at all levels, all the way up to executive leadership, are under development at the university.
Industry- driven innovation is at the core of Waterloo’s research mandate
“It all starts with having industry at the table,” says Gill. “Given our deep bench strength in cybersecurity, we feel it’s our obligation to help address the needs of Canadian industry. But no one institution can service all of the industry— we see the University of Waterloo as a leader in building a consortium of academic, industry, and government participants to shape a national strategy to address the ever-increasing demand for cybersecurity skills.”
The University of Waterloo already has an impressive list of industry- driven accomplishments, from an Ansi-standard digital signature scheme developed to a crucial scheduling algorithm for TOR. The institute is open to new industry partnerships to forge the future of Canadian cybersecurity.