Trend Micro and TELUS to Open a New Cybersecurity Lab in Toronto
It seems that 2018 may be the year where small and large companies alike begin to shore up their cybersecurity measures.
Trend Micro has announced the opening of a new cybersecurity research centre based in Toronto, the formation of which coincides with a partnership involving TELUS. The relationship between Trend Micro and TELUS will allow for research collaboration and increased development of insights and customer-facing protective measures.
“We chose Toronto because of the strength of the talent, as well as our overall increased investment in Canada,” said Eva Chen, CEO of Trend Micro. “As a truly global security leader, proximity to our customer base allows us to best address their local threat needs while sharing insights globally. Working with a strong, dependable industry leader like TELUS will help us to further strengthen our North American presence.”
Trend Micro has acquired the IP and security experts from TELUS Security Labs, which will form the basis of Toronto’s new lab. There are about 25 people who form that group of experts, and though they are currently working out of a TELUS location, they will be relocated to a new Trend Micro office in the middle of this year.
The partnership with TELUS will help protect Canadians from targeted attacks while also guarding against infrastructure and asset threats. TELUS customers will be able to access increased cybersecurity measures as the telecom runs Trend Micro products across their network to collect insights into Canadian-specific research.
“Companies must co-innovate to solve tough problems for their customers, as they are directly faced with constant cybersecurity and privacy threats,” said Ibrahim Gedeon, CTO at TELUS. “This is why we are working with Trend Micro to increase the existing protection of our customers. Our new partnership represents the steadfast belief that future data protection requires a highly integrated approach.”
The Tokyo-based Trend Micro is a global leader when it comes to cybersecurity solutions and has research centres in Austin, Manila, Munich, Ottawa and more.
The new office will house about 100 cybersecurity researchers within two years. The Ottawa location already sports a 200-person team that leads a global operation providing cybersecurity specifically geared towards cloud computing. The Ottawa office was originally a company called Third Brigade, which Trend Micro purchased in 2009 and turned into the current cybersecurity team.
Late last year Trend Micro acquired the Montreal-based Immunio to expand their hybrid cloud security even further. Another large entity in Canada recently unveiled plans for a cybersecurity lab as well—RBC will be working with the University of Waterloo to further pursue digital privacy.
