Mastercard and NTU Singapore collaborate on new cybersecurity training and research partnership

Mastercard today announced an industry-leading partnership with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) to strengthen and grow the cybersecurity ecosystem in the Asia Pacific region.

The Mastercard-NTU Joint Lab will tap into Mastercard’s cybersecurity expertise alongside NTU’s education infrastructure to train and reskill cybersecurity talent in the region. Mastercard and NTU will also collaborate to identify projects for scientific research and development around cybersecurity and digital trust.

The partnership objective is to develop a talent pipeline and industry expertise to build cybersecurity ecosystem capability and create job opportunities in the fast-growing sector. The partnership has scope to scale as needed, and is part of Mastercard’s broader objective of establishing its first Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence (COE) for the Asia Pacific region, based in Singapore.

“The Mastercard-NTU Joint Lab is a great example of how industry partnerships and the sharing of expertise is driving innovation in the cybersecurity and fintech space.”

Ari Sarker

President, Asia Pacific

Mastercard

“Government support and facilitation has been a critical factor in Mastercard’s ability to deliver this initiative successfully. The Singapore Economic Development Board was instrumental in providing Mastercard strategic direction and economic context in the conceptualisation process, including discussions with NTU.”

“As digital technologies become more pervasive, strengthening our cybersecurity ecosystem will be even more critical. The Mastercard-NTU Joint Lab is a timely initiative that will advance cybersecurity research and train more cyber talent. EDB looks forward to the Lab furthering cybersecurity innovation in Singapore."

Philbert Gomez

Vice President and Head, Digital Industry Singapore

EDB

The Mastercard-NTU Joint Lab also adds to the national Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) efforts, which lay the groundwork for Singapore’s science and technology efforts every five years.

“Cybersecurity and digital trust have become increasingly important as Singapore moves towards becoming a Smart Nation. NTU’s collaboration with Mastercard is thus timely to ensure that digital technologies and solutions can be made secure and trustworthy. NTU will bring our strong interdisciplinary approaches in research to address some of the most pressing and complex challenges facing the fintech industry. The collaboration is also aligned with the national RIE2025 plan, under which developing trust capabilities is one of the strategies.”

Professor Lam Khin Yong

Senior Vice President (Research)

NTU

Globally, cybercrime is estimated to cost the global economy in the region of US$5 trillion (close to 5% of world GDP¹) and businesses, large or small, need to be able to keep their customers safe, while continuing to offer frictionless services.

“As the world becomes increasingly connected through advances in emerging technologies like cloud and quantum computing, 5G and AI, it is critical we innovate to keep the digital ecosystem safe and secure. Leveraging the new Mastercard-NTU Joint Lab to help harness, grow and nurture best in class talent will help deliver a safe and trusted digital ecosystem, today and tomorrow.”

Ajay Bhalla

President, Cyber and Intelligence

Mastercard

The Mastercard-NTU Joint Lab will focus on two key areas of cybersecurity development:

Skills Training: The partnership will offer an advanced 12-week joint Mastercard-NTU cybersecurity curriculum, including hands-on training, developed by Mastercard and delivered by NTU. The course will be open to students and mid-career professionals, though the government’s SkillsFuture and Enterprise Learning Transformation programs administered by NTU.
Research: Mastercard and NTU will collaborate to identify cybersecurity-related research and proof of concept projects. The centre will explore areas, including the impact of quantum computing on cybersecurity and the use of privacy-enhancing technologies.

Co-leading the joint lab from NTU is Associate Vice President (Strategy and Partnerships) Professor Lam Kwok Yan, who is also the Executive Director of the national Digital Trust Centre. The centre leads Singapore’s research and development efforts and grows local talent and businesses for “trust technologies”, which help augment systems across the digital trust principles of privacy, accountability, identity, integrity, fairness, safety, and compliance.

“As technology evolves, new risks will emerge. Therefore, it is important to invest in “trust technologies” such as privacy enhancing technologies that address data privacy concerns, so that trust can be built among companies and consumers. For example, fintech companies can exchange their data in a confidential manner to address financial risks while still protecting the privacy of their customer data.”

Professor Lam Kwok Yan

Associate Vice President (Strategy and Partnerships), NTU

Executive Director of the national Digital Trust Centre

^[1] Two reports form the basis of this statistic:

(a) Navigating The Fraud Economy: Five Tactics To Fend Off Fraudsters (forbes.com;

(b) Fraud costs the global economy over US$5 trillion | Crowe Global