NTU and FireEye join forces to grow the ranks of Singapore's cyber security experts

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and leading cyber security company FireEye are inking a partnership to explore new areas in cyber security research, and to develop courses to meet the rising demand for cyber security professionals needed to help defend critical networks.

Besides carrying out joint research projects and developing new curriculum in cybersecurity, the partnership will offer scholarships, and provide internship opportunities to NTU students.

The collaboration was signed today at one of the world's largest gathering of information security professionals, the RSA Conference in California, the United States, by NTU's Dean of the College of Science, Professor Ling San, and Kevin Mandia, Chief Executive Officer at FireEye.

NTU Provost, Professor Freddy Boey said, "Today, the world is more connected than ever before, from internet banking to critical infrastructure, and this creates new vulnerabilities. NTU's new partnership with FireEye will not only find better ways to address the rising cyber threats, but also groom the next generation of future-ready cybersecurity professionals."

The collaboration will focus on efforts to automatically classify malicious software (malware) and to study new methods that attackers use to infiltrate computer systems. This includes developing solutions to identify hidden malware behaviour that could evade regular detection methods.

Eric Hoh, President of Asia Pacific Japan at FireEye said, "In the wake of the U.S. presidential election, it is clear that cyber security is the next domain in which national sovereignty will be challenged. This is cause for concern in the Asia Pacific region, where attackers spend a median of 520 days inside organizations before they are discovered. To improve, organizations must apply a combination of technology, threat intelligence, and—most crucially—expertise. Southeast Asia faces a shortage of cyber security expertise, and this collaboration will help bolster the ranks of those that defend Singapore networks."

Mr David Koh, Chief Executive of the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore said, "This NTU-FireEye partnership brings together the strengths of both academia and industry to offer cutting-edge cybersecurity research as well as robust training to develop cybersecurity talent. It is a welcomed move to ensure we have a pool of skilled manpower with deep cybersecurity capabilities for Singapore."

Provided by Nanyang Technological University