Blog
Spring 2022 Newsletter
New strategy, services, and the latest from ShareIT It’s been a very busy season for Cybera: we introduced three new security services for members, expanded the ShareIT catalogue, and launched a province-wide data science work integrated learning program. Our new three-year mandate includes big plans for these areas, as well as for our networking and […]
Internet experts and leaders share local solutions at the Alberta Rural Connectivity Forum
Last month, the Alberta Rural Connectivity Coalition (ARCC) hosted its second annual Alberta Rural Connectivity Forum, which brought together community leaders from across the province. The two-day event, held in Sylvan Lake, highlighted the differing internet access issues faced by many Alberta communities, and evaluated opportunities available through the Government of Alberta’s new rural broadband […]
Cybera moving to four-day work week over the summer
This summer, in an effort to promote our staff’s wellbeing and create a better work-life balance, Cybera will be piloting a four-day workweek. This means we will shift our working hours to Monday-Thursday, and close the office every Friday from July 8 to August 26. Cybera’s mission is to connect Alberta to the world, enabling […]
Alberta Innovates grant kickstarts the Applied Data Science Lab
Alberta Innovates announced today a new series of funding for projects that will support economic growth and innovation in the province’s tech sector. Cybera is pleased to be one of the recipients of the funding for its newly established Applied Data Science Lab for Economic Development. The Data Science Lab will build off the success of Cybera’s Data Science […]
2021-2022 ShareIT Year in Review
The 2021-22 fiscal year surpassed our annual record once again, with $18,767,640 in spending and $15,301,050 in estimated savings! Continued growth can be attributed to the ongoing expansion of our catalogue and the utilization of new agreements (including a $1,146,319 spend on the recently launched Firewalls Master Agreements). In addition, ShareIT is excited to announce […]
Testing improved data retrieval on Cybera’s Rapid Access Cloud
This week, from May 18-20, the annual Mining Software Repositories (MSR) conference is taking place. This annual event brings together global experts in data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to explore interesting and actionable ways to improve software development practices. In the lead up to MSR, a hackathon was organized. This year, the focus […]
Cybera Security Nexus will help Alberta institutions plug their security gaps
As part of its new cybersecurity services for Alberta’s research, education, and public sectors, Cybera is pleased to launch the Cybera Security Nexus. This platform provides expertise and resources to help organizations assess, prioritize, and address their cybersecurity and policy gaps. The Nexus offers access to: An industry recognized IT security assessment framework (available to […]
Introducing our 2022-25 strategy
As part of our commitment to stay nimble and responsive to the needs of Alberta’s public and education sectors, Cybera has launched a new three-year strategic roadmap that includes a greater emphasis on collaboration and skills development. These new focus areas will complement Cybera’s existing network, security, and advocacy initiatives that members have come to depend on. “The past […]
Teaching students data literacy through everyday curricula
The free, interactive platform that has helped over 88,000 students across Canada learn and apply data science skills through their everyday curricula has been renewed for a further two years. With the new funding from the national CanCode program, the Callysto platform will continue its focus on developing responsible digital citizens, while increasing outreach to […]
Cybera launches three cybersecurity services for wider member community
To meet the growing cybersecurity threats faced by Alberta’s research, education, and public sectors, Cybera is launching three new services this spring. The goal is to provide members better insights, tools, and advice on how to detect and protect themselves from malicious activity. The new services are: Threat Feed for Education — A threat intelligence feed platform […]
CyBear provides Alberta a new level of cyber security
Cybera is about to launch a suite of new security services, including CyBear! Hailing from the Canadian Rockies, this cybernetic grizzly will protect kids and “cubs” in Alberta’s school districts from malicious online agents. … Okay, CyBear may be an April Fool’s joke, but the increase in cyber threats is not. Cyber attacks are on […]
Sharing the results from Cybera’s community outreach
Cybera recently ran a series of focus groups and surveys with our community, to get their input for our 2022-25 Strategic Roadmap. We are pleased to report the feedback received on Cybera’s services was overwhelmingly positive, with 93% of respondents indicating our services are unique and could not be easily found from other providers. According […]
Alberta budget and broadband strategy hold promise, but concerns remain
Last month, Alberta’s Finance Minister Travis Toews tabled the provincial government’s Budget 2022. It builds on a number of commitments outlined in the government’s Alberta Recovery Plan and Alberta 2030: Building Skills for Jobs strategy by introducing a number of investments relevant to advanced education, innovation, and skilled labour development. The provincial government is earmarking […]
Lessons learned from our recent outage
On Saturday, February 26, one of our network team’s worst nightmares occurred. A major incident took place during planned maintenance at one of our data centres. Thankfully, this occured on a weekend, our major services were restored the same day, and access was restored to all Cybera services by Monday, February 28. As a team, […]
Cybera is launching new security services
To meet the security needs of our member community, Cybera will be launching three new cybersecurity services for our wider member community in April 2022: An intrusion detection service that gives connected members a single, detailed overview of potential indicators of compromise on their network, to improve their overall security posture. A program that offers […]