uOttawa's Telfer School of Management and Canadian Centre for Cyber Security partner in strategic collaboration

(Press-News.org) The Telfer School of Management has signed a new strategic partnership with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre) to provide cutting-edge professional development to public sector and critical infrastructure leaders across the country.

Telfer Executive Programs, part of the Telfer School of Management, designed and delivered the immersive Leadership Crisis Simulation at the uOttawa-IBM Cyber Range. This initiative led to the establishment of a partnership between Telfer and the Cyber Centre to expand the offerings available at the uOttawa-Cyber Range, including new crisis simulation exercises, a catalogue of simulation scenarios, professional training, and talent development programs in pursuit of enhancing national cyber resilience, particularly across critical infrastructure sectors and government departments.

“Cyber threats are among the most pressing risks facing Canada today,” noted Rajiv Gupta, Head of the Cyber Centre. “Through this initiative with Telfer, we are supporting leaders responsible for our most critical systems and services. This collaboration will ensure they are prepared to respond to real-world crises in an increasingly complex digital world.”

"Canada's cyber foes aren't waiting for us to get ready. This partnership ensures our leaders are armed with the strategic acumen to outthink and outmaneuver threats before they materialize,” shared Stephane Brutus, Dean of the Telfer School of Management. “When critical infrastructure fails, it's much more than a technical problem—it's a leadership problem, and we're training executives to meet that challenge.”

Located in the University of Ottawa's Cyber Hub, the uOttawa-IBM Cyber Range is globally unique in its structure. Operating in partnership with the international team of IBM's X-Force Cyber Range, it offers a full, immersive, and interactive training setting where leaders can experience real cyber response scenarios. Its role is also to raise public awareness and foster multidisciplinary research and collaboration between different stakeholders on how to anticipate, respond to, manage, contain, and remediate cyber attacks.

"We are delighted to deepen our collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and our colleagues from Telfer School of Management,” shared Guy-Vincent Jourdan, Co-Director of the uOttawa-IBM Cyber Range. “Public service leaders recognize that we must take a multidisciplinary approach that blends technology, policy, and operations to tackle today’s threats. Through the expertise and innovation of our Faculty of Engineering and our unique facility, we are proud to play a central role in preparing Canada’s leaders — as well as the experts on the front lines — to anticipate, manage, and respond to the complex cyber challenges ahead."

Bringing together Telfer’s extensive experience in professional development, applied learning, professional certification, and adult education with the Cyber Centre’s leading expertise in cyber security, threat intelligence, critical infrastructure, and cyber defence, this initiative will prepare leaders for the threats of tomorrow, keeping Canadians and the critical systems on which they depend safe and reliable.

“We’re excited to partner with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and grateful for the opportunity to bring Telfer’s expertise in executive education to this important initiative,” shared Jennifer Gordon, Executive Director at Telfer Executive Programs. “Together, these offerings will equip senior leaders with the strategic skills and insights they need to strengthen Canada’s cyber resilience.”

About the Telfer School of Management The Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, located in the heart of Canada’s capital, brings together over 4,300 students, 200 professors and over 35,000 alumni. Our teaching, research and policy advice firmly align with our vision for a greener, healthier, happier, wealthier and more prosperous future for all. We empower our purpose-driven students through an experience that turns them into influential leaders and responsible managers. In the heart of Ottawa, we know that better business practice means a better Canada, and a better Canada means a better world.

About the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre) The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security is part of the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE) and was established in 2018 as a key initiative under Canada’s National Cyber Security Strategy. The Cyber Centre is the single unified source of expert advice, guidance, services and support on cyber security for government, critical infrastructure owners and operations, the private sector and the Canadian public.

As Canada’s technical authority on cyber security, the Cyber Centre uses its expertise to keep safe the information and systems that Canadians rely on every day, works to protect and defend the country’s valuable cyber assets, leads Canada’s federal response to cyber security events, and raises Canada’s cyber security bar so Canadians can live and work online safely and with confidence.

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