Group-IB teams up with Ngee Ann Polytechnic to boost Singapore cybersecurity talent pool

Group-IB, a Singapore-based cybersecurity company that specializes in preventing cyberattacks, announced at CyberCrimeCon 2019 earlier today (29 Nov) a collaboration with Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) to further strengthen Singapore’s cybersecurity talent pipeline and raise awareness of modern cyber threats in the region.
Mr Ilya Sachkov, Group-IB CEO & founder, and Mr Patrice Choong, Director of NP’s School of InfoComm Technology, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the sidelines of the Threat Hunting & Intelligence conference in Singapore.
As part of the MOU signed by both parties, they will jointly develop cybersecurity curriculum, provide internship opportunities for students, and work on research projects. Group-IB’s expertise in information security and knowledge of key cybersecurity trends will enrich NP’s existing course material in cybersecurity and digital forensics. Through the training of NP students who will play a critical role in the future of cybersecurity and digital forensics, Group-IB aims to help build skilled cyberforce in Singapore to safeguard companies and government organizations against the growing threat of cybercrime.
For a start, NP has introduced Group-IB’s TDS Huntbox module in the Cybersecurity & Digital Forensics (CSF) course. The module will equip students with skills in internal and external threat hunting, retrospective analysis, as well as correlation and attribution of cyber threats, which is being used for learning sessions, such as blue (cyber defenders) vs. red (hackers) team games. Close to 80 CSF students will benefit from this initiative each year.
In addition, some of the CSF students will gain practical training experiences through meaningful internships with Group-IB and get to work on cybersecurity threat testing and penetration testing projects. They will also get opportunities to learn from Group-IB professionals who have trained law enforcement agencies, corporate security teams, and universities in Singapore, Bahrain, Germany, Lebanon, Monaco, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Thailand, and the United Kingdom, as well as experts within Group-IB’s official partners, INTERPOL and Europol.
What’s more, research projects and the development of cybersecurity innovation represent another prospective area of joint activities. The partnership dovetails with Singapore’s Smart Nation efforts to develop cybersecurity capabilities that can form the frontline of the country’s cyber defence. NP students can also look forward to opportunities of researching new cyber threats that are relevant to the region and developing solutions that will help create a safe and favourable environment for the region’s continued economic growth.

“Ngee Ann Polytechnic is pleased to partner Group-IB to enhance our course curriculum and work on joint projects that will benefit the industry. The collaboration will enable our students to be equipped with relevant skills for the fast-evolving cyber landscape and strengthen Singapore’s talent pool in cyber security,” said Mr Patrice Choong.

Mr Ilya Sachkov commented: “Group-IB has been relentlessly investing its resources, both material and human, in fostering young enthusiasts interested in protecting the world against the bad guys. However, it is a challenging process to find highly skilled experts who would meet high requirements that we have in Group-IB, and the agreement with the highly respected Ngee Ann Polytechnic allows us to bridge this gap.”
“It is a great chance for students to enhance their skills with the help of cybersecurity practitioners who are dealing with incident response on a daily basis and have access to one of the world’s most advanced systems to monitor cyber threats,” he added.