The Canadian Federal Government is looking to strengthen the country’s national cybersecurity ecosystem, with five universities helping amid rising digital crime carried out by hackers, companies and governments.

The Cyber Security Innovation Network (CSIN) aims to enhance research and development, increase the commercialization of IT security and expand the country’s talent pool. The network was unveiled last month by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) as part of the government’s roughly $500 million National Cyber Security Strategy.

This pan-Canadian initiative is being led by the National Cybersecurity Consortium (NCC), a federally incorporated non-profit consisting of Concordia University, Ryerson University, the University of Calgary, the University of New Brunswick and the University of Waterloo.

“The reality is, cyber war is happening every day, with governments, utilities, banks, industrial corporations, academic institutions and individuals worldwide targeted on a daily basis. We are aiming to bring together all of the major actors in this space to help push forward the agenda of cybersecurity in Canada,” said Mourad Debbabi, Director of Concordia’s Security Research Centre.

As homes to distinguished cybersecurity R&D centres, the five consortium universities bring a robust mix of sector knowledge, experience and connections. Combined, they have expertise in conducting interdisciplinary fundamental and applied research, delivering training to individuals and companies and nurturing start-up and scale-up firms. They will focus the network’s projects in the following areas: critical infrastructure protection; privacy and privacy-enhancing technologies; human-centric cybersecurity; software security and network security.

With up to $80 million in funding over four years, plus one-to-one in matching funds to be obtained by the consortium through cash or in-kind contributions, the NCC will facilitate multidisciplinary, cross-sector cybersecurity R&D, talent and business development collaborations between academia, industry, non-profits and government. It has already attracted the participation of numerous stakeholders: 140 researchers at 42 postsecondary institutions, 36 companies of all sizes, 26 non-profits and eight government entities.

The CSIN’s work will help bolster a sector that is becoming increasingly important to Canada’s economy: according to Statistics Canada, the cybersecurity industry contributed over $2.3 billion in GDP and 22,500 jobs in 2018. Yet, in its February 2022 federal budget recommendations, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce noted that the country’s cybersecurity spending per capita is about half that of some other G7 countries and advised investing an additional $1.5 billion in the federal cybersecurity strategy.

“Canadian companies like Entrust, Certicom and BlackBerry were pioneers in cybersecurity innovation,” said Charmaine Dean, Vice-President, research and international at the University of Waterloo, home to the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute. “But Canada needs to step up the pace in terms of generating intellectual property compared to the major players like the U.S., China, South Korea and Europe.”

The CSIN faces high stakes as cybercrimes are not only increasing each year, they are also becoming increasingly sophisticated. Statistics Canada found that one in five Canadian businesses reported being impacted by cybersecurity incidents in 2019. For example, the federal government reported that in the first half of 2021, ransomware attacks in Canada increased by 151% compared to the first half of 2020.