CyberNB Says Ukraine Partnership Could Mean Billions Of Dollars For Canadian Companies
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick cybersecurity sector will be helping Ukraine develop theirs with a new partnership announced Monday.
CyberNB, a non-governmental, non-profit corporation, has signed a multi-year agreement with the Administration of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine to help vet and connect them with Canadian companies to cooperate and collaborate in the development of Ukraine’s cybersecurity sector.
This agreement provides a major opportunity for CyberNB and its pan-Canadian Critical Infrastructure Protection Network (CIPnet) members, which consists of largely Canadian cybersecurity companies, to provide Ukraine with high-quality assistance in knowledge, technology, and equipment.
“Ukraine sees CyberNB and our critical infrastructure protection network as a partner that they can trust to validated and verify their supply chain for 5G infrastructure, so ensuring their cybersecurity resilience is baked into their supply chain as they go forward and put money into their own infrastructure as a country,” said CyberNB CEO Tyson Johnson in an interview with Huddle.
“It’s really a feather in the cap of everything we’ve building here as an apolitical independent not-for-profit organization to be able to show that what we’re doing is making sense not only to other organizations and industry partners, but also the government of another country.”
The parties will work together to outline key initiatives for CyberNB to scope and present to its CIPnet member companies. The companies that want to join these initiatives will then need to test and validate their technology at CyberNB’s Transparency Centre based in the Cyber Centre in Fredericton. This will ensure interested companies meet the highest level of safety and security entering Ukraine’s supply chain.
Ukraine is making major efforts to develop cybersecurity, with projects such as the development of the 5G network and digital television.
“The potential for growth of telecommunications and digital television for Ukraine represents a bright future for our digital economy,” said Yurii Shchyhol, chairman of the State Service of Special Communications in Ukraine, in a release.
“We have entered into this agreement with CyberNB based on its demonstrated leadership in developing strategies to support safe innovation and security, as well as the supporting components of cybersecurity training, education and certification.”
Canadian companies will be able to participate in the implementation of this initiative by joining CyberNB’s CIPnet membership.
“This is a huge export opportunity for Canadian companies that want to engage in and help build capacity like these 5G networks in other parts of the world,” said Johnson. “For us, it’s a massive export opportunity for Canadian content not just in New Brunswick, but well beyond, coast-to-coast with our CIPnet partners from B.C. to Newfoundland.”
Johnson says this is CyberNB’s most significant partnership to date and it’s one they hope to replicate with other countries in the future. They are currently in talks with a country in Latin America and Eastern Asia.
“This represents what could be billions of dollars in export opportunities for Canadian companies to help a country securely identify and build its infrastructure,” he says. “We also see this as a great opportunity for us to test our ability to deliver and potentially see other countries raising their hands for similar types of support.”