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Hofstra University Unveils $1.3M Cybersecurity Center

The new center, which has plans to offer a new M.S. degree in the field for students, also is aimed at helping to fill a large expected shortfall in workers who are qualified to take on cybersecurity jobs.

(TNS) — Hofstra University on Tuesday unveiled a $1.3 million cybersecurity training and research center that it hopes to share with schools, governments and businesses to help them protect their computer systems.

The center, which will offer a new M.S. degree in the field, also is aimed at helping to fill a large expected shortfall in workers to take on cybersecurity jobs.

“There is no doubt that cybercrime is an existential threat with staggering global economic and security implications,“ Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. 

“We have created a center that will train a new generation of cybersecurity experts who can stay ahead of our increasingly sophisticated hackers and safeguard the information and technology that power our economy,” he said.

The mission of the Cybersecurity Innovation and Research Center is “even about helping to safeguard the legitimacy of our democratic elections,” Rabinowitz said in an apparent nod to Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The global cost of cybercrime is expected to climb to about $6 trillion by 2021, while the number of unfilled jobs in the field is expected to rise to about 3.5 million, the university said.

The center is a 1,000 square-foot facility with equipment that can “create hyper-realistic cyberattack scenarios,” the university said in a statement. It has 36 computers, and was funded in part by a $200,000 grant from Empire State Development.

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