Manipal, 28^th April 2022: Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), one of India's leading academic and research institutions, accorded Institution of Eminence status by the Ministry of Education, GoI, has signed an agreement to establish next-generation Phygital and Virtual Cybersecurity labs at Manipal to enhance skill-building and future digital jobs creation.

The ISAC foundation is at the forefront of technology skilling under its mandate with the AICTE to establish the centers of excellence in cybersecurity. The MIT COE will become part of the KDEM initiative of establishing cybersecurity Hub and Clusters. MIT will act as a cluster in Mangalore for cybersecurity and will be part of the larger ecosystem led by the Cyberverse Foundation at Mysuru under the support of the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM).

The focus on cybersecurity has gained immense importance, especially due to the acute shortage of professionals and rising cyber-attacks. Mangalore is the fastest-growing nonmetro in South India and is the 2nd largest business center in Karnataka. The city is a BFSI and IT Hub with major banks and multinational software companies having their presence in this coastal city.

Cyberange develops some of the largest cybersecurity phygital simulation labs in the world. ISAC is deploying the Cyberange SCADA/IOT Phygital Lab and Virtual Labs at MIT to build capacity in Industrial cybersecurity and hands-on virtual training. The Virtual labs are recognized under the NEAT 2.0 by AICTE and will simplify the delivery of cybersecurity training to UG and PG students and meet corporate needs.

The COE will enable the creation of trained manpower and support the KDEM initiative #FutureDigitalJobs, under the Talent Accelerator Program, which aims to provide job opportunities for fresh engineering graduates in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

Speaking at the event Commander (Dr.) Anil Rana, Director, Manipal Institute of Technology said, “CII Stakeholders and the BFSI Sector in Mangalore have evinced keen interest and are looking forward to benefit from this center of excellence”.

Lt. Gen. (Dr.) M. D. Venkatesh, Vice Chancellor of Manipal Academy of Higher Education said" Cybercriminals are using every possible tool at their disposal to hack into networks and organizations. Every cybersecurity leader is under a lot of pressure today to find skilled professionals. At MAHE, we hope to address this large skill gap in the industry,"