Cybersecurity Research
A cross-disciplinary community securing the networks, data and infrastructure that modern life depends on.
Cybersecurity is no longer a problem that belongs to computer scientists alone. The systems under threat carry our health records, our money, our elections and the infrastructure our cities run on. Defending them raises questions of law, economics and public trust as much as questions of code.
At the University of Calgary, cybersecurity research spans computer science, engineering, law, mathematics, physics and business. Our researchers build encryption designed to survive quantum computers, expose how mobile apps quietly collect personal data, secure the software supply chains that industry depends on, and shape the laws and regulations that govern all of it.
Much of that work is anchored by the Institute for Security, Privacy and Information Assurance, which brings researchers together with partners in industry, government and law enforcement.
UCalgary is one of five founding institutions of the National Cybersecurity Consortium, the body leading the federal government's Cyber Security Innovation Network. Dr. Ken Barker, who directs the Institute, serves as the Consortium's scientific director. In 2024, eight UCalgary projects in the Faculty of Science and the Schulich School of Engineering received nearly $7 million from the Consortium, close to a third of a $22.8 million national investment spread across 37 projects.
In the Faculty of Law, Dr. Emily Laidlaw holds the Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity Law. The Faculty of Science offers the first program in Canada designated an International Academic Partner by ISC2, the world's leading cybersecurity credentialing organization, which lets students earn a professional security credential alongside their degree. The CATE Centre houses a scalable cyber range, the only one of its kind in Alberta.
From cryptography to law reform, UCalgary's cybersecurity researchers are building the defences and the rules that a secure digital society depends on.
Our Research
Institutes, Centres and labs
Cybersecurity research at UCalgary runs through a network of institutes, centres and labs, several of them national in reach
Cybersecurity in the Age of AI and Quantum Applications
Watch this Now Innovating episode with Dr. Hadis Karimipour on the cyber threats facing utility networks, transportation systems and hospitals, and how artificial intelligence and quantum applications are being used to detect and stop them.
Teaching and Training
Faculty of Science
- Master of Information Security and Privacy (MISP): A course-based professional graduate degree with an internship, designed for IT professionals advancing in the field, for those shifting into security from other areas of computer science, and for recent computer science graduates seeking a professional credential before entering the job market. The program is the first in Canada designated an International Academic Partner by ISC2, which allows students to complete the CISSP credential alongside their degree.
- Graduate Certificate in Network Security: A four-course certificate covering the tools and practices for securing network infrastructure, including the building blocks of network communication security through applied cryptography.
- Graduate Certificate in Software Security: A four-course certificate in the principles of application security, developing secure products, and building a secure software system end to end.
- Graduate Certificate in Data Privacy: A four-course certificate for computer science and IT professionals seeking expertise in data privacy, covering both the management and protection of data and conformance with legal requirements.
Undergraduate Concentration in Information Security: Available within the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science for students who want security depth in their undergraduate degree.
All three graduate certificates ladder into the MISP: students completing two certificates can apply for admission and carry credit for the coursework already done, within five years.
Graduate Programs
- Master of Strategic Studies: A transdisciplinary graduate degree that places the study of war, defence and security within the context of past and present human experience. Offered in a course-based format, completed continuously over one year, and a thesis-based format normally completed in two.
- PhD in Strategic Studies: A hybrid academic and professional doctorate built for mid-career professionals in security and defence, who normally enter with at least two years of ongoing professional experience.
Our Researchers
- Jean-Christophe Boucher, School of Public Policy and Faculty of Arts, Department of Political Science
- John Aycock, Faculty of Science, Department of Computer Science
- Ken Barker, Faculty of Science, Department of Computer Science, Director of the Institute for Security, Privacy and Information Assurance
- Lyndsay Campbell, Faculty of Law and Faculty of Arts, Department of History
- Gideon Christian, Faculty of Law, University Excellence Research Chair in AI and Law
- Duy Dao, Haskayne School of Business, Business Technology Management
- Lorenzo De Carli, Schulich School of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Software Engineering
- Philip Fong, Faculty of Science, Department of Computer Science
- Marina Gavrilova, Faculty of Science, Department of Computer Science
- Greg Hagen, Faculty of Law
- Ryan Henry, Faculty of Science, Department of Computer Science
- Robert Huebert, Faculty of Arts, Department of Political Science, Director of the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
- Michael John Jacobson Jr., Faculty of Science, Department of Computer Science, Deputy Director of the Institute for Security, Privacy and Information Assurance
- Hadis Karimipour, Schulich School of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Software Engineering, Canada Research Chair in Secure and Resilient Cyber-Physical Systems
- Emily Laidlaw, Faculty of Law, Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity Law
- Miti Mazmudar, Faculty of Science, Department of Computer Science
- Michael Nesbitt, Faculty of Law, Associate Dean (Research)
- Joel Reardon, Faculty of Science, Department of Computer Science
- Rei Safavi-Naini, Faculty of Science, Department of Computer Science, NSERC/Telus Industrial Research Chair in Information Security
- Barry Sanders, Faculty of Science, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Director of the Institute for Quantum Science and Technology
- Renate Scheidler, Faculty of Science, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Cybersecurity News @ UCalgary
Article
UCalgary researchers create tools to identify information manipulation in the digital space
Jean-Christophe Boucher leads a transdisciplinary team using AI and machine learning to address growing online issue
Article
UCalgary students' research sheds light on controversial cybersecurity bills
Law, military and strategic studies students present findings at RCMP's National Cybercrime Co-ordination Centre
Article
Securing the unseen: How UCalgary is protecting Canada’s digital backbone
Nearly $2 million from National Cybersecurity Consortium supports next-gen encryption, software security and mobile-data transparency research
Article
UCalgary computer scientist earns lifetime achievement award for her work to secure our online world
Rei Safavi-Naini recognized for her contributions to cryptography