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ZU gets cyber security toolkit

Zayed University received the latest in cyber security technology from AccessData Group, a digital forensics innovator, at an event commemorating the partnership between the two parties on Thursday.

Academic licences of AccessData’s ‘Forensic Toolkit’ (FTK) were donated to the university’s Advanced Cyber Forensics Research Laboratory (ACFRL), enabling students to gain hands-on experience with the company’s latest digital forensic software.

“We believe that by aligning with leading educational institutions like Zayed University and by helping educate the country’s next generation of business professionals and leaders in the latest cyber security technologies, we can contribute to reducing the impact of cyber crime in the long term,” said Geoff Brooks, AccessData’s regional sales manager for the Middle East, Africa and India.

“We want students to have the right skills once they graduate and be proficient in working with industry standard cyber security tools like FTK.” The laboratory, established in 2010 and the first of its kind in the Middle East, relies on such collaborations between academia and the private sector to promote research and raise educational standards, said ACFRL Director Dr Ibrahim Baggili.

“When we know that companies like AccessData have intellectual property that is very important to use — to do research with and to possibly come up with new intellectual property that can benefit the digital forensics field — it is critical that we have partnerships like this. If we don’t, then we really haven’t invested in research.”

According to Dr Baggili, research holds the key to combating cyber crime, which has increased at rapid rates across the region. He stated that the incidence of cyber crimes in the UAE increased by 1000 per cent from 2007 to 2009 and that over 76 per cent of UAE residents have fallen victim, amounting to a total loss of $612 million.

aisha@khaleejtimes.com