KUALA LUMPUR: Canadian software company BlackBerry Ltd and US-based SANS Institute recently established a new partnership in Malaysia, offering SANS training courses through the soon-to-be-opened BlackBerry Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (CCoE) in Kuala Lumpur.
To help bolster national cybersecurity capacity in Malaysia, the partnership will offer advanced technology and training to help upskill Malaysia’s cyber-defenders, focusing on critical areas like forensics and incident response.
This new partnership with SANS marks the first significant milestone in BlackBerry’s landmark cybersecurity deal with the Malaysian government, announced at the APEC Summit in San Francisco in November 2023.
In addition to Malaysia’s deployment of the full suite of trusted BlackBerry cybersecurity solutions, BlackBerry is opening its CCoE in the first half of 2024 to help Malaysia educate, train and upskill cyber professionals and grow the cybersecurity ecosystem.
SANS Institute director of strategy and business development, Asia Pacific Matthias Chia said that as a leading provider of cybersecurity education, SANS knows first-hand that training, upskilling, and establishing a culture of continuous learning and innovation is crucial for any nation to build adequate cyber-resilience in our complex digital age.
“We are proud to partner with BlackBerry in Malaysia to offer our globally accredited training programs to help upskill cyber-workforces and enhance technical capabilities among cyber professionals, but also train new students wishing to carve out a career in this exciting field,” he said in a statement.
In addition to the SANS programs, BlackBerry will offer its curriculum at the new CCoE, as well as partner with Malaysian universities and other institutions to offer a wide range of courses, certifications, and other programs to help build skilled cybersecurity workforces in Malaysia and across the Indo-Pacific region.
BlackBerry Cybersecurity senior vice president of strategy, business development and operations John Dimitropoulos said that with nearly 40 years of experience in protecting global governments from cyber-attacks, espionage and data leaks, BlackBerry has seen global demand for cyber skills and expertise explode, particularly in specialist areas such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI).
“We are pleased to announce that SANS Institute’s training courses will be offered through our BlackBerry Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Malaysia, delivering upon our shared goal to establish a globally competitive skills and learning ecosystem in Malaysia and the Indo-Pacific region for years to come,” he said.
Now open for registrations, the SANS Secure Malaysia 2024 inaugural training will take place from March 11–16, and the first featured course will be SEC504: Hacker Tools, Techniques, and Incident Handling.
