Kaspersky Lab has announced a new global initiative designed to identify Filipino talents in the area of cybersecurity.
The company said young Filipino entrepreneurs are now given the chance to build their knowledge in cybersecurity and win a $50,000 (over P2 million) prize fund from Kaspersky Lab?s ?Security Startup Challenge?(SSC).?
Kaspersky Lab will also give a post-program support to the winning team aside from the prize fund. The second and third place winners will take home $20,000 and $10,000 (or more than P800,000 and P400,000), respectively.
Online registration for the workshops and the main program is now open for interested participants aged 18 to 35 years old at?www.SSC2015.org. The closing date for application is on April 28, 2015.
SSC is a mentor-driven acceleration program developed and implemented by the?Kaspersky Academy, in partnership with venture industry leaders?Mangrove Capital Partners?and the ABRT Venture Fund.
It will provide startups with projects in cybersecurity and related areas, such as financial tech, healthcare, mobile, the Internet of Things, and the Cloud, access to cutting-edge business, cybersecurity and cross-industry expertise from around the world.
?As the cyberthreat landscape becomes more and more dangerous, the world needs new ideas, new concepts and new approaches to cybersecurity. As a result, there?s been a significant increase in venture funding of early-stage startups in the industry,? said Eugene Kaspersky, chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Lab.
Cyberthreats have become a global problem and their number and sophistication continues to evolve significantly. Kaspersky Lab currently detects 325,000 new malicious files every day. Last year, the company?s products detected and neutralized a total of 6,167,233,068 threats.
Running from March to August, the Security Startup Challenge 2015 will comprise a preliminary series of two-day workshops, in Jerusalem, Berlin, San Francisco, Singapore, and Moscow.
This will be followed by a three-month acceleration program which will include distance team work and two bootcamps in Luxembourg, culminating in a grand finale event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.
While attendance at the workshops is optional and not essential in order to apply for the main program, they will provide participants with an additional advantage in terms of enhanced knowledge and skills.
Applicants are required to submit individual proposals upon registration. A special committee will conduct the selection process, identifying the individuals and teams with the most promising, innovative or exciting proposals. Young entrepreneurs picked for the Security Startup Challenge will be informed through email or phone by Kaspersky Lab.
Selected participants will meet in Luxembourg where the groups will be formed. Members of each team will have to get in touch with each other through online. SSC challenge participants will also be required to check in with their supervisors on a weekly basis during the duration of the three-month program.
The program offers access to cybersecurity professionals, venture capitalists and seasoned entrepreneurs to help new businesses create a global professional network.
