GFI Advanced Technology Group makes major software donation
For members of the Concordia Institute of Information Systems Engineering (CIISE), having the right tools for the job can mean solving cyber-crimes before they even occur. These tools, of course, are a little more technical than the magnifying glass used by detectives of yore: nowadays, complex software systems help highly trained individuals to better understand how malware and viruses work. That's where software programs like GFI Sandbox come in--but with a hefty price tag of $56,000 it's a difficult thing to acquire.
Enter Chad Loeven, alumnus from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and VP at GFI, which itself is a leader in the global security community that provides the industry's leading malware analysis tools. Thanks to him, GFI has now donated the Sandbox tool to CIISE in order to support graduate students conducting research in the security cluster.
The generous gift was announced at a special reception held at Concordia's downtown campus on December 7, 2010. In attendance were Mr. Loeven and his wife Melodie Sullivan (another Concordia grad, on top of being Legal Counsel in the University's Office of the General Counsel), as well as Robin Drew, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, and Dr. Mourad Debbabi, director of CIISE.
While Dean Drew spoke of the importance of this gift to the Faculty itself, Dr. Debabbi explained how a tool like the Sandbox would allow his colleagues in the security cluster to reverse-engineer and safely test malware in a secure environment, thereby allowing researchers to see this malicious software in action while having the reassurance that it is contained. Mr. Loeven, who said he got "a lot of pleasure out of giving back to a place that has done so much for me," spoke of the importance of such collaborations between industry and academia and responded positively to Dr. Debabbi's hope that this gift marked the beginning of a strong partnership between Concordia's Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, and GFI.
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