On Oct. 12, UW announced a new partnership between Mastercard and the university’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute (CPI). As part of the partnership,the university website reported that $550,000 will go towards research and talent advancement in cybersecurity. The university’s press release also stated that the partnership will support projects that increase “trust in data” with respect to fingerprinting, identification and validation, and data protection.
As part of the partnership, scholarships will also be provided to graduate and undergraduate students with an academic focus in cybersecurity and privacy. CPI executive director N. Asokan commented on the partnership,saying, “We greatly appreciate the investment by Mastercard and their commitment to our students and globally renowned faculty. This partnership will allow us to advance research and commercialization initiatives and prepare the next generation of industry leaders in cybersecurity and privacy.”
This investment by Mastercard proves to be a timely one, as exponential growth in digitized information and threats targeting this data has created an immediate and pressing need for sophisticated prevention and protection measures. According to recent reports, the global cybersecurity landscape has seen an exponential increase in threats in the last few years. Recent reports from The Canadian Center for Cyber Security also commented on the growing financially motivated cyberattacks on “ high-value organizations in critical infrastructure sectors in Canada.” They also alleged that based on recent trends, the cybercrime activity in Canada will increase in the next two years.
According to the university, this partnership will allow the CPI to build upon its leadership in the rapidly changing field of cybersecurity. Mastercard has also previously expressed its commitment towards supporting Canadian innovation, technology, and cybersecurity talent through similar cybersecurity-related investments.
Sasha Krstic, president of Mastercard Canada, said of the partnership: “Part of our commitment at Mastercard to advancing innovation in cybersecurity, privacy and data science means sharing expertise through partnerships like CPI, defining standards and playing a leading role in securing the ecosystem.”
Investments promoting research and training in cybersecurity address crucial challenges facing the cybersecurity industry, such as shortage of skilled workers and burn out amongst employees. For more information on this initiative, visit UW’s webpage announcing the partnership.
