By Nicholas Gallo, Staff Writer
St. Bonaventure University will open the first cybersecurity center in Western New York next week. The center will be a hub in Doyle Hall for cybersecurity and create partnerships of research, actual industry practice and commercialization.
The center will operate with monitoring and alert services to clients and government. This student-run center will provide constant monitoring and defense, while developing technologies and producing intellectual properties.
Dr. Hossein Sarrafzadeh, the director of cybersecurity, believes that St. Bonaventure is a forward-looking university. He said the university contributes to solving the biggest issues facing society and cybersecurity is one of those.
“Through the center, we will be able to develop new knowledge and help make Western New York and the U.S. more secure,” Sarrafzadeh said. “The center and the SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) will jointly protect not only the school, but any business in Western New York wishing to subscribe to this new innovative service.”
Sarafzadeh said the center will help further understandings of what, where and how cyberattacks are carried out and produce predictive analysis of future attacks. Attacks online, such as password attacks, business email compromise and ransomware, are situations the research center will protect against for students and businesses in the greater Olean area.
Gianni Martinez, a sophomore cybersecurity major, believes having security for cyberattacks is extremely important. She said having a department for cybersecurity would increase school enrollment and make students extremely employable.
“If the school properly trains [the students], we will be able to hopefully combat anything that comes the school’s way,” Martinez said. “A cyberattack could affect our school in numerous ways, such as encrypting information and holding it ransom to stealing information.”
Sarrafzadeh said the center will provide multiple ways of educating, aiding in public awareness and developing research and business. He added that the center will provide real-time monitoring and prevention of cyberattacks in Western New York.
“The aggregate of the data that is mined from cyberattacks, as it becomes more complete and comprehensive about each person or company, becomes more powerful,” Sarrafzadeh said. “In the right hands, the information can work for the betterment of people and companies; however, that same comprehensive data, when analyzed for nefarious purposes, can be quite damaging.”
He also believes the center will be creating intellectual property that will benefit the college and will create both international and local collaboration opportunities in the industry.
“We have developed a new master’s program, Cybersecurity Research Center and the Security Operations Center, which will all help train students for these much-needed positions with real, hands-on experience,” Sarrafzadeh said.
More than 150 people, including politicians, business leaders and educators, will be attending the opening of the Western New York Cybersecurity Research Center on Tuesday, April 24. There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony, beginning at 9 a.m. and concluding with a networking reception at 11 a.m.
