Cyber university institute created in Quebec

On May 18, 2023, the Université de Montréal and two of its affiliated schools, Polytechnique and HEC Montréal, announced the creation of a university institute dedicated to cybersecurity. The « Institut multidisciplinaire en cybersécurité et cyberrésilience » (IMC2) will draw on the expertise of 44 professors, their research teams, and numerous students.

First and foremost, IMC2 will be a center for applied cybersecurity research. In particular, it intends to stay at the cutting edge of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), post-quantum and 5G.

« AI is needed for cybersecurity. We need learning solutions to automatically identify threats and vulnerabilities, understand attacks, and automate response processes. The downside is that AI itself is vulnerable to attack because of its lack of robustness, » points out IMC2 director Professor Frédéric Cuppens, a cybersecurity expert at Polytechnique Montréal.

But its creators also want IMC2 to « play a role in the direction of public policy in terms of regulation« . IMC2 also intends to become a benchmark threat observer, ready to offer informed advice on the decisions to be taken in the event of a major cyber attack.

Even more complex, IMC2 aims to become a cyber-incident response center for small organizations and individuals. « It’s also a key objective of the institute to have a center of expertise that can provide assistance, first aid to individuals and SMEs who have to deal with incidents, » explains Frédéric Cuppens.

On this last question, the institute assumes its role as a spur to the public authorities, giving itself a mission that it will probably not have the means to fulfill. « We probably won’t be able to meet all the needs. (…) It will demonstrate to public policy-makers that we may need larger structures than we have today« , assures Frédéric Cuppens.