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The Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity (CIC) at the University of New Brunswick and the Centre for Digital Forensics and Cyber Security at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to initiate the collaboration in combating cyber threats.

By signing the MOU, both centres declared their intention to explore opportunities for collaborative research projects and training for the advancement of cybersecurity which are of mutual interest or benefit to both universities. The signed MOU was designed to facilitate the exchange of material and resources to benefit both universities’ respective educational needs.

Through the agreement, each research centre agreed to participate with the other and to attend events and meetings as are necessary to reach the objectives of the newly initiated collaboration. These examples will serve as a starting point for an even closer or broader possible co-operation in the future.

“As the malicious actors get more sophisticated and use more complex techniques at a global context, it is so important for higher education organizations and research centres to combine their capabilities and information to equip their students and researchers with better skills to fight against all sorts of cybercrime,” says Dr. Ali Ghorbani, director of CIC. “International collaboration, especially among training and research centres, is the key in providing an open academic environment for training and research activities.”

“The CIC is one of the leading organizations from around the world invited to form the new Global Ecosystem of Ecosystems Partnership in Innovation and Cybersecurity, or Global EPIC. Since the foundation of the institute, we have attached great importance to the international cooperation and signed collaboration agreements with research centres and universities from various parts of the world, such as the USA, Japan, Israel, New Zealand, UK and Italy. We all know that Estonia is strategically located in Eastern Europe with an advanced cybersecurity infrastructure, and the Centre for Digital Forensics and Cyber Security of TalTech University is one of the highly respected research centres in the region with a similar agenda as the CIC. We are very happy and excited to establish the collaboration mechanism between the two leading research centres in this field and to join our forces in creating advanced solutions to the growing cyber threats,” says Dr. Ghorbani, who is also Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity and a professor of computer science at UNB.

"Cybersecurity is a necessary foundation for the modern information society as our dependence on technology continues to grow. While Estonia and Canada may be far away from each other, we are neighbors in cyberspace. We share many of the problems and therefore we should work together to find new ways to solve them. I look forward to collaborating with the CIC," says Dr. Rain Ottis, the head of the Centre for Digital Forensics and Cyber Security at TalTech.

The Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity (CIC) is a comprehensive multidisciplinary training, research and development, and entrepreneurial unit that draws on the expertise of researchers in the social sciences, business, computer science, engineering, law and science. Based at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, the institution is the first of its kind to bring together researchers and practitioners from across the academic spectrum to share innovative ideas, create disruptive technology and carry out ground-breaking research into the most pressing cybersecurity challenges of our time.

TalTech Centre for Digital Forensics and Cyber Security works towards enhancing the competence and ability of Estonian computer security field through education, research and development. The centre strives towards becoming the best cyber security Master's and Doctoral studies institution in the Baltics and Nordic countries. The centre is a part of TalTech Department of Software Science.

Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), the only technological university in Estonia, is the flagship of Estonian engineering and technology education. Here the synergy between different fields (technological, natural, exact, economic and health sciences) is created and new ideas are born. TalTech is to become one of the leading technological universities in the Baltic Sea region.

Media contact: Faruk Ener