Blog
A fond farewell and securing the future: Callysto transitions to a new phase
Cybera and the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS), the creators of the online digital skills learning platform, Callysto, today announce that they are winding down their involvement in the project. Callysto will continue to operate as an open source tool, and its 125+ learning resources will remain available to teachers and students across Canada. […]
From the President & CEO: Cybera community update and look ahead
With so much going on within Cybera and our wider community, I wanted to pause to review what we’ve accomplished in the latter quarter of 2023, and what we have planned for the year ahead. This past fall saw many big wins for Cybera and our community: the announcement that the Australian National Research and […]
New platform will help fill Alberta’s skills gaps
A web platform that helps Albertans match their skills and experience with the most sought-after jobs — as well as find opportunities to learn in-demand skills — is now available for a limited-time public preview. SkillUp provides an incredibly detailed (and user-friendly) Alberta labour market overview and education referral tool. Built by Cybera (Alberta’s not-for-profit research and […]
Cybera’s Applied Data Science program wraps up a busy 2023 with the launch of its third cohort
Cybera’s Applied Data Science Lab team has had a very busy 2023, helping support 10 different organizations with their early adoption of data science and machine learning practices. This is the most companies our data science team has supported in a single year, and is on top of over a dozen workshops and public information […]
ShareIT hits new group spend/saving milestone as it opens up to municipalities
Alberta’s ShareIT public procurement program has hit a major new milestone in its group spend and savings. Since it was launched in 2017 by Cybera — in collaboration with Alberta’s post-secondary institutions — the program has marked over $100 million in cumulative member spending on IT hardware, licenses, and other services via ShareIT’s negotiated agreements. […]
eduroam comes to the Calgary Airport
The Calgary Airport Authority has announced its launch of eduroam, the secure, global Wi-Fi roaming service for students and researchers. Post-secondary students, researchers, and faculty passing through the Calgary International Airport (YYC) now have access to the trusted and secure internet service. This represents the first airport in Alberta (and only the second in Canada) […]
Data science interns take a “trip” to Vertical City
With exaggerated hand gestures, data science intern Aldebaran Saldaña comedically ushers me in and out of a life-size “elevator simulator” — a small, curtained-off rectangle with a monitor mounted in the top right corner. “I feel like a border security officer,” he says. “Passports, please!” Rishabh Shukla, another intern, shares the system’s findings from behind […]
The trials, tribulations, and triumphs of a k-12 school network analyst
Chris Sluggett leads the talented and highly commended Technology Services team at Wolf Creek Public Schools, a school district covering rural communities north of Red Deer. The breadth of responsibility for his team — from enabling online learning, to protecting student privacy, to keeping the lights on — can be overwhelming to outsiders. But it […]
Step five of building cybersecurity: Implementing the CIA triad to combat risks
Part 7 of Cybera’s Introduction to Cybersecurity series Confidentiality, integrity and availability — also known as the CIA or AIC triad — is a model designed to guide policies and actions to build information security within an organization. Confidentiality The National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) defines confidentiality as: “Preserving authorized restrictions on information […]
Step Four of building cybersecurity: Identifying your risks
Part 6 of Cybera’s Introduction to Cybersecurity series What are some of the top cybersecurity challenges? Cybersecurity is continually challenged by hackers, data loss, privacy demands, and increased surface attack risks, coupled with the need to constantly evolve security strategies. These strategies must address these external threats, as well as internal pressures from any workforce […]
Step three of building cybersecurity: Threats vs Attacks
Part 5 of Cybera’s Introduction to Cybersecurity series In our previous post, we defined “attacks” and “threats”, and provided a comprehensive list of the different threats modern organizations typically face. In this post, we’ll focus on attacks. What is an attack? While threats are not always intentional (e.g. natural disasters), an attack is an intentional, […]
Step two of building cybersecurity: What threats do you face?
Part 4 of Cybera’s Introduction to Cybersecurity series Once you have developed a full inventory of your operational environment (as outlined in our previous post), the next step is to try and uncover the intentional and unintentional dangers they face. From a security standpoint, threats and attacks are two separate but critical issues. For network […]
Step one of building cybersecurity: What do you Know?
Part 3 of Cybera’s Introduction to Cybersecurity series In our previous blog post, we talked about the importance of cybersecurity in the modern world, and the different kinds of “threats” and “attacks” institutions commonly face. Today, we’ll review how best to understand your operational environment in order to determine your specific cybersecurity risks. Knowledge is […]
What is cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity…how to eat an elephant one bite at a time Part 2 of Cybera’s Introduction to Cybersecurity series Cyberattacks are on the rise. According to the annual ITRC (Identity Theft Resource Center) Data Breach Report, there was a 68% increase in reported U.S. data compromises from 2020 -2021. Moreover, breaches related to cyberattacks represented more […]
Cybera’s Introduction to Cybersecurity Series
Part 1 – Introduction For cybersecurity to be effective within any organization, it needs to be addressed as a continual lifecycle. Every day, new attacks are developed, so existing methods to repel them must be refined and improved. Why is cybersecurity important? Cybersecurity matters to everyone, from governments and large corporations, to small businesses, individual […]