ITE and Group-IB team up to raise a new generation of cybersecurity specialists for Singapore

First Threat Hunting, Digital Forensics and Cyber Investigations Center to be established in the ITE

Institute of Technical Education (ITE), a principal provider of technical education in Singapore has partnered with Group-IB, a Singapore-based cybersecurity company that specializes in prevention and investigation of cyberattacks. The Memorandum of Understanding has been signed on Friday, November 29, by Ilya Sachkov, Group-IB CEO & founder, and Ms Low Khah Gek, Chief Executive Officer, ITE at CyberCrimeCom’2019 in Singapore. The agreement aims to bring up a new generation of cybersecurity professionals in Singapore by synergizing Group-IB’s hands-on experience in fighting cybercrime globally and ITE’s unique technical education capabilities with one goal – to improve cyber resiliency of the city-state.

The scope of the agreement includes the creation of the first of its kind Threat Hunting, Digital Forensic and Cyber Investigations Centre on the premises of ITE, and the introduction of new courses and training to the curriculum, as well as internship opportunities for ITE students at Group-IB’s offices in multiple locations.

This cooperation comes in line with the Singapore governments’ Industry 4.0 strategy, to grow the talent pool of cybersecurity professionals capable of tackling most Advanced Persistent Threats threatening the city-state’s Operations Technology (OT) systems. As part of the cooperation, Group-IB and ITE aim to provide students and adult learners with strong theoretical base and more importantly practical training in authentic learning environments within various cybersecurity domains.

Group-IB and ITE will jointly develop cybersecurity curriculum in the fields of computer forensics, threat hunting and cyber investigations. This will help to boost the level of practical knowledge in cybersecurity for students, while introducing more pathways for adult learners to retrain and enter the workforce in a new field while filling cybersecurity talent gap in Singapore at the end of the day. Training for ITE’s students and academic staff will be provided by Group-IB’s cybersecurity practitioners who are successfully dealing with the most sophisticated threats on a daily basis all over the world.

Cybersecurity is not just a theoretical science but an operational one. This is why one of the key elements of the MOU is the creation of the first Threat Hunting, Digital Forensic and Cyber Investigations Centre in ITE, where students will be able to get real-life, authentic, hands-on experience identifying and proactively hunting for threats relevant to the region and dealing with the ones targeting especially OT related systems. Group-IB will set up the infrastructure necessary to be used in authentic learning and research within ITE to enable students to have a feel of real-life incidents. The company has committed to equip the new Centre with its Threat Hunting and Intelligence solutions for adversary research, malware analysis, monitoring of underground activity, and network protection.
Group-IB will also offer top talents from ITE an opportunity to intern at Group-IB’s offices in multiple locations so that they can get real-world experience in the areas of threat intelligence, computer forensics, malware research and other cybersecurity-related disciplines.

The announcement of Singapore’s Operational Technology Cybersecurity Masterplan in October highlights the urgent need for talents in the cybersecurity industry. ITE is pleased to partner with Group-IB and leverage their vast experience and expertise to benefit our students and adult learners. In particular, the new Threat Hunting, Digital Forensic and Cyber Investigations Centre at ITE will greatly enhance the real-life, authentic and hands-on learning experience for our learners and allow us to develop trained manpower skilled in combatting cybercrime using the latest technical know-how.

Low Khah Gek

CEO at ITE

Cyber threats to OT systems and the financial sector are one of the most pressing issues of today in Singapore. Raising a new generation of threat hunters now, equipped with tactical and strategic knowledge about threat actors, is a backbone of the future stability of Singapore. This is an ambitious goal that we believe can be achieved by leveraging Group-IB’s experience in fighting cybercrime and ITE’s innovative approach to technical education. We hope that our cooperation will also have a strong and positive economic impact for the country by giving Singaporean citizens better job opportunities in one of the most rapidly growing fields.

Ilya Sachkov

CEO and founder at Group-IB