London agency to turn street children into cyber experts

MUMBAI: Soon, a London based cyber defense and risk consultancy agency will be opening its door to teach Mumbai’s street children including juveniles to tackle cyber

MUMBAI: Soon, a London based cyber defense and risk consultancy agency will be opening its door to teach Mumbai’s street children including juveniles to tackle cyber attacks and turn them into cyber security experts. The agency, pioneered by a former Israeli police officer, is in talks with the local government to start the project.

HT Image

The agency will inaugurate the Vital Intelligence Academy, an upcoming institution likely to be launched in April 2017, to provide cyber security training along with physical training for crisis management in Mumbai. The academy is also likely to tie up with the Mumbai police to provide cyber enforcement training.

Marc Kahlberg, director and founder of the Vital Intelligence group has served in the South African Army, Israel Defense Force and also the Israel National Police before starting the agency. “We will take children off the streets to teach them skills and have them spend their time productively. We will select the children by gauging their adaptiveness to technology after a gaming session for them,” he said. The academy will offer individual courses ranging from one-day workshops to a three-week course.

The agency is currently active in Australia, South Africa, Tel Aviv, Romania and Israel. While launching the academy in Mumbai, in collaborating with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, the academy will have five classrooms in the city. The next phase of academy will be launched in Delhi and then in Hyderabad, India’s IT hub.

“The 2014 Forbes survey suggests there are 2 million jobs around the globe waiting to be occupied mainly because of the lack of skilled candidates. It’s even higher today,” said Aatikaay Narula, director for the agency’s Indian operations.