Eight teams of Canadian university students competed to win the prestigious Swift Institute cyber-security challenge
Toronto, 19 October 2017 - Team Pulse OS from the University of Toronto were announced as the winners of the Swift Institute Student Challenge 2017 at the closing plenary session of Sibos in Toronto. Javier Perez-Tasso, Chief Executive for the Americas and UK Region, Swift, presented team leader Nataliya Mykhaylova with a 20,000 CAD award.
Team Pulse OS came up with an innovative solution that allowed for early and reliable detection of cyber security threats by analyzing the unique power use signatures on mobile devices such as cellphones, laptops or tablets. The concept looked at using signal processing and machine algorithms to easily identify patterns of unusual activity. By analyzing these patterns the system was able to develop power signatures that would serve as early warning for cybersecurity threats.
Eight teams of Canadian university students were tasked with finding and developing a secure banking channel concept that could stand up to sustained cyber-attacks. The finalists came from a diverse range of international University teams, including; The University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University, York University and University of Toronto. The teams presented their ideas in the finals that were held on Wednesday 18 October at Sibos in Toronto. The winners were chosen following voting by the attending audience as well as a panel of judges consisting of three industry experts. This year’s contest was exceptionally close, with just three votes separating the top three teams.
Nataliya has a background in engineering and design, and is currently working on a PHD degree in Chemical Engineering.
“All eight teams presented innovative solutions to a significant challenge facing the financial industry,” says Peter Ware, Director of the Swift Institute. ”I was really impressed with the ideas presented by these students. It was truly awe inspiring in the way they approached the challenge.”
The winner of the challenge was chosen through a combination of a four-judge panel and the votes of the audience.
The Swift Institute will now turn its attention towards organizing the third edition of the Student Challenge, which will take place at Sibos 2018 in Sydney.
About Swift
Swift is a global member owned cooperative and the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services. We provide our community with a platform for messaging and standards for communicating, and we offer products and services to facilitate access and integration, identification, analysis and regulatory compliance.
Our messaging platform, products and services connect more than 11,000 banking and securities organisations, market infrastructures and corporate customers in more than 200 countries and territories. While Swift does not hold funds or manage accounts on behalf of customers, we enable our global community of users to communicate securely, exchanging standardised financial messages in a reliable way, thereby supporting global and local financial flows, as well as trade and commerce all around the world.
As their trusted provider, we relentlessly pursue operational excellence; we support our community in addressing cyber threats; and we continually seek ways to lower costs, reduce risks and eliminate operational inefficiencies. Our products and services support our community’s access and integration, business intelligence, reference data and financial crime compliance needs. Swift also brings the financial community together – at global, regional and local levels – to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest or concern.
Headquartered in Belgium, Swift’s international governance and oversight reinforces the neutral, global character of its cooperative structure. Swift’s global office network ensures an active presence in all the major financial centres.
For more information, visit www.swift.com or follow us on Twitter: @swiftcommunity and LinkedIn: Swift.
About Swift Institute
Launched in April 2012, the Swift Institute fosters independent research to extend the understanding of current practices and future needs across the financial industry. Managed by Swift, and working in close collaboration with academics from top international universities, the Swift Institute brings the financial industry and academia together to explore ideas and share knowledge on topics of global importance. The research covers four broad areas: Payments, Securities, Compliance / Regulation; and Technology / Cyber.
For more information, please follow us on LinkedIn: Swift Institute or Twitter:@SwiftInstitute or visit http://www.swiftinstitute.org/ .
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