Kanpur, Nov 27 (IANS): IIT-Kanpur has partnered TalentSprint, a Hyderabad-based Ed-Tech firm to undertake an advanced certification programme in cybersecurity and cyber defence.

The collaboration has been designed for aspiring professionals who are keen to explore the latest trends in cybersecurity technologies.

The first unit will be functional early next year. The IIT-Kanpur(IIT-K) has already taken a lead in cybersecurity by setting up the Interdisciplinary Centre for Cyber Security and Cyber Defence of Critical Infrastructures (C3i).

Professor Sandeep Shukla, Programme Director and Professor of Computer Science said: "One of the mandates of the C3i Centre is 'outreach'-- to train many more cyber security professionals -- who are not necessarily students at the institute.

"Professional engineers who are working as cyber security professionals or in utilities, finances, banks or IT in general, can be trained at a larger scale than is possible within the scopes of our degree programmes."

He said that the mission and vision of C3i is to do research, education, training, and to spawn startups to create technological safeguards and to protect critical infrastructure.

The centre, which is headed by Prof Sandeep Shukla and Prof Manindra Agarwal, will engage with international partners from Israel and the USA in developing research and technology exchange, student training, as well as hosting conferences, workshops, and cyber security competitions to create awareness.

Santanu Paul, co-founder and CEO of TalentSprint, said, "The demand for such professionals is outstripping supply because more and more people are adopting technology and the threat is also growing in the cyber space."

Meanwhile, this 6-month Advanced Certification Programme in cyber security and cyber defense will be delivered in an executive-friendly format.