Calgary police announce cybersecurity partnership
October is Cyber Awareness Month, and we are announcing a new partnership with the University of Calgary and a local cybersecurity company, ENFOCOM.
Last month, we welcomed various cyber industry experts, international law enforcement agencies and post-secondary leaders to our bi-annual Cyber Summit in southeast Calgary.
Over the course of four days, various keynote speakers and workshop leaders from cybersecurity groups, researchers, the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies across Canada and the United States, gathered to discuss case studies and trends involving the dark web, cryptocurrency, open-source intelligence, artificial intelligence, and other topics.
The theme for this year’s summit was “Stronger Together,” with a focus on providing an opportunity for attendees to learn about emerging trends in cyber investigations, including the creation of the Canadian Cyber Assessment Training and Experimentation Centre (CATE), a comprehensive resource for law enforcement, academia, and cyber security professionals.
Created and developed by the University of Calgary, Calgary-based Raytheon Canada and ENFOCOM Corporation, the CATE Centre allows for safe experimentation and research, including providing a platform for police investigations, sting operations and other kinds of future policing modalities.
“Cyber is a growing component of all crimes, and often requires collaboration between law enforcement and other industries,” said Inspector Phil Hoetger of the Calgary Police Service Technical Investigations Section. “We are thrilled to be part of an innovative partnership where cybersecurity expertise is shared amongst the Calgary Police Service, private enterprise and academia. This public-private partnership will help strengthen cybersecurity and safety among residents of Calgary, Alberta and Canada.”
“This partnership between the Faculty of Science and the Calgary Police Service is an exciting opportunity not only for our students to develop their skills, but for them and our researchers to use their expertise to help make tangible improvements to online and community safety,” said Dr. Kristin Baetz, Dean, Faculty of Science of the University of Calgary.
“The CATE centre and its cyber-range has the ability to create very believable computer infrastructure in a very safe way,” said Ken Barker of the University of Calgary. “It is the premise of the system we’re building to allow students to deal with viruses, learn how attackers attempt to bring down computer systems, and how data privacy breaches occur. The primary purpose here is to teach them how to respond when they see these things and to properly defend the systems.”
“ENFOCOM has over 20 years of experience in delivering solutions for commercial, academic and aerospace defense customers,” said Herbert Fensury, Chief Executive Officer of ENFOCOM. “Working in partnership with the University of Calgary and Raytheon Canada, ENFOCOM opened the CATE Centre as the first multi-use facility for academic, commercial and aerospace defense in Canada. We are excited to include law enforcement in this partnership so that we can work together in strengthening cybersecurity across the board.”
About ENFOCOM:
ENFOCOM helps companies improve their cybersecurity posture to prevent them from being the next target of a cyber-attack by providing innovative cybersecurity consulting, penetration testing and training services.
Media Inquiries:
Calgary Police Service
Leah Brownridge, Communications Advisor
403-428-7979
University of Calgary
Erin Guiltenane, Communications Advisor
Faculty of Science
403-606-9913
ENFOCOM
Herbert Fensury, CEO and Founder
403-619-1318