NYU Tandon School Of Engineering Cybersecurity Expert To Discuss “Hacking For Venture Capital”

Panel Will Focus on Issues of Interest to Startups

BROOKLYN, New York – According to advisory group Momentum Cyber, approximately 300 cybersecurity startups launch each year.  While attracting external capital can be essential to the growth and success of these companies, gaining traction and standing out in the crowd is difficult.

Nasir Memon

NYU Tandon Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Nasir Memon, who also serves as director of online learning at the school, will be a featured participant on the HACKNYC 2018C panel “Hacking for Venture Capital,” providing advice for startups whose goals include securing critical infrastructure. Panelists are expected to address such questions as:

• How can startups leverage corporate, federal, and state innovation programs?
• What can be learned from more established companies?
• What specific attributes might convince an investor or corporate entity to take a chance on a small, newly launched venture? 

“It is absolutely vital for there to be cooperation between university research centers, such as NYU’s Center for Cybersecurity, and industry,” Memon asserted, explaining why it was important that academics like himself participate in HACKNYC 2018 and other events. “Academic researchers possess big-picture insight but lack the real-world data needed to do the best modeling and proof-of-concept work. At the same time, industry entities have data but lack the time and personnel to analyze and act upon it.”

There have been early attempts to forge just such mutually beneficial relationships, and results have been promising, he explained, noting that one of his own postdoctoral fellows was recently embedded at a highly regarded international financial services firm. Memon has a solid track record of forging productive industry-academic partnerships. At NYU Tandon, he has, for example, launched the NY Cyber Fellowship, which provides scholarships of as much as 75 percent of tuition support toward an elite online cybersecurity master’s degree program. Elite businesses and the New York City Cyber Command are advising closely on curriculum and providing mentors, career opportunities and real-world projects for the students.

HACKNYC 2018 will take place from May 8 to May 10 at Microsoft's Technology Center at 11 Times Square and will be keynoted by Mike Krygier, the New York City deputy chief information security officer and head of urban technology at NYC Cyber Command. He will discuss the city’s recent launch of NYC Secure, the first initiative to defend New Yorkers from malicious cyber activity online.

“The support of NYU to the HACKNYC 2018 event – to bring the perspective of academia – is important to the success of the event,” said Conference Chairman Tom Brennan.

“Hacking for Venture Capital,” which will be moderated by Greg Irwin of BWG Strategy, will take place on May 8 at 3:30 p.m. Memon’s fellow panelists will include Ron Gula, CEO of Gula Tech Adventures; Phil Venables, chief operational risk officer of Goldman Sachs; Sounil Yu, senior vice president of Bank of America; David Stern, chief information security officer of BGC Partners; and Tim Dawson, managing director of cybersecurity at HSBC.

Visit HackNYC 2018 for more information and to register. 

About the New York University Tandon School of Engineering
The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, the founding date for both the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly). A January 2014 merger created a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention and entrepreneurship and dedicated to furthering technology in service to society. In addition to its main location in Brooklyn, NYU Tandon collaborates with other schools within NYU, one of the country’s foremost private research universities, and is closely connected to engineering programs at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai. It operates Future Labs focused on start-up businesses in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn and an award-winning online graduate program. For more information, visit engineering.nyu.edu.