06 Dec Global Cyber Center Launches In The City That Never Sleeps
SOSA is a major contributor to New York’s cybersecurity ecosystem
– Ruth Bashinsky, Senior Editor
Northport, N.Y. – Dec. 6, 2019
Here’s one more reason to Love New York.
Gotham City is on its way to becoming the cyber capital of the world. Thanks to Cyber NYC, a $100 million public and private partnership, whose goal is to transform New York City into a global leader in cybersecurity innovation and job creation.
Israeli entrepreneur Guy Franklin, general manager NYC for SOSA — an innovation hub with offices in New York, London, and Tel Aviv — connects corporations to the local tech ecosystem. Franklin, along with his team, is one of the investors who have been busy working with The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) to get this epic project off the ground.
And, epic it is.
“SOSA is building and operating the official Global Cyber Center of the City of New York and that means we are going to build the ecosystem of cybersecurity,” he explains. “Our network of investors, start-ups and corporations with the goal of connecting between the demand that is coming from the corporations and the suppliers because the start-ups is the core business of SOSA an open innovation platform.”
For Franklin, being part of a city that is the epicenter of major industries from finance, real estate and healthcare to technology and law, contributes to making the Big Apple a cyber leader.
Franklin shared the news at a recent Leading Cyber Ladies NYC (LCL) event, held in the Flatiron district, and he had a bit of joie de vivre in his step.
“SOSA won recently a very big bid of the city of New York to run the official Global Cyber Center of New York, operating from our flagship building. We plan on running the program on cybersecurity and programs around women in cyber,” he said before handing the mic to LCL NYC Founder, Sivan Tehila.
The LCL is a movement that helps expose more women to the cybersecurity profession, and one that SOSA is partnered with.
Clearly, for SOSA and NYC this is the start of something special.
The 15,000-square-foot Global Cyber Center is located in Chelsea and has one floor dedicated to cybersecurity start-ups, corporations and investors that invest in cyber, explains Franklin. The Cyber NYC program also has a cybersecurity hub in SoHo and academic cyber partnerships with area colleges including Columbia, NYU, City University of New York and Cornell Tech.
“The highlight of our new headquarters is the seventh floor,” says Franklin. “It is a unique members club and the first of its kind for the tech community of New York, with a restaurant and bar for those people from the university who are interested and want to meet at the club.”
Additional programs made up of Cyber NYC include a Cyber Boot Camp with Fullstack Academy and Laguardia Community College; Inventors to Founders with Columbia University’s Technology Ventures, and Applied Learning Initiative that gives students the opportunity to earn a CUNY-Facebook Master’s Degree in cybersecurity. Some of the companies that have made commitments to the program include Facebook, Mastercard, Goldman Sachs, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The Cyber NYC initiative launched in 2017 with a $30 million investment from The New York City Economic Development Corporation, the organization spearheading the enterprise, and approximately $70 million in private investments. SOSA NYC and Jerusalem Venture Partners are the two Israeli-based firms involved.
The perfect storm.
The world is struggling through a cybercrime epidemic, cyber defense spending is an order of magnitude greater than it was a decade ago, and our cyber fighting corps are severely understaffed. Consider the data from Cybersecurity Ventures:
- Global cybercrime damages are predicted to reach $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015.
- Ransomware attacks a business every 14 seconds in 2019, and that is trending towards every 11 seconds by 2021. Global ransomware damage costs are on track to hit $20 billion by 2021, up from $11.5 billion in 2019.
- There will be 5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs globally by 2021, up from one million openings in 2014.
In response, Franklin is helping the city to build and train a local cyber infantry and combat infrastructure. And his timing is perfect.
“The city saw this huge demand in cybersecurity and one of the demands is to create over 10,000 jobs over the next few years. SOSA is a major part of it,” he says.
Women know cyber.
Franklin and Tehila are confident with all that they are doing in education, awareness, and training — many of the jobs will be filled by women.
Women make up 20 percent of the global cybersecurity workforce in 2019, and that number is rising, according to Cybersecurity Ventures. New York City has a large and diverse workforce which is conducive to this trend.
All systems go.
By the time this story went to press, SOSA NYC had already moved into their new spacious Chelsea home, located at 149 5th Avenue, which functions as the Global Cyber Center. Enthusiastic would be an understatement; Franklin is here and ready to change the cyber world.
Cybercriminals beware. The city that never sleeps is on the lookout.
– Ruth Bashinsky is the Senior Editor at Cybercrime Magazine.
