New Excellence Center to Advance Research on CyberSecurity

New Excellence Center to Advance Research on CyberSecurity

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The University of Connecticut’s (UConn) School of Engineering and Synchrony Financial, a consumer financial services company headquartered in the state, have announced earlier this month the launch of Synchrony Financial’s Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity (The Center) at UConn. The Center will promote cutting edge research in cybersecurity, a field that, according to businesswire.com, will grow from $122 billion worldwide in 2016 to $202 billion by 2021.

Carol Juel, executive vice president and Chief Information Officer at the company explained: “We are passionate about cultivating top technology talent in Connecticut who will soon be on the nation’s frontlines of defense against cybercrime. Our partnership with UConn is an important step towards building the research and resources needed to fuel hiring in this growing area of technology.”

“We are thrilled to establish a world class program in one of the fastest growing fields in technology with Synchrony Financial,” said Kazem Kazerounian, Dean of the School of Engineering at the University of Connecticut. “The program builds on the success of the Engineering School, which celebrates its centennial this year, and allows us to provide robust opportunities for our students looking to pursue a career in cybersecurity.”

The partnership will help prepare local Connecticut talent to help fill the 209,000 (and growing) unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. The gap has come to such a tremendous scope due to the rapid evolution of technology and proliferation of the Internet of Things which create oppurtunities for attackers and hackers. With this investment, Synchrony Financial and UConn aim to counter the growing threats of foreign and domestic cybercrime by developing information security talent and leading research to help companies and consumers stay ahead of these threats.

Financial institutes around the world have begun seeking solutions for cybersecurity since they’re such likely targets for attacks, but while most simply upgrade their defence systems Synchrony Financial has found a rather creative method to reinforce it’s protection.