Yucatan is the first entity to have the first career and specialty in Cybersecurity in the entire Southeast of the country, which continues to bet on innovation and technology to prepare young people for the future of work.
The Governor of Yucatan, Mauricio Vila Dosal, delivered the new rectory and administration building at the UPY, which continues to improve the local educational infrastructure by offering better and more comfortable spaces.
Yucatan is once again at the forefront with the establishment of 2 new Cybersecurity Laboratories at the Polytechnic University of Yucatan (UPY) and the Metropolitan Technological University (UTM), which Governor Mauricio Vila Dosal put into operation today and which will contribute to the development of specialists for research and innovation in the detection and response to digital threats.
In this framework, together with the Mayor of Ucú, Gaspar Ariel Pinto Ojeda, Vila Dosal also delivered the new rectory and administration building at the UPY, which continues to improve the educational infrastructure, offering better and more comfortable spaces, through an investment of 13.7 million pesos.
It is worth mentioning that Yucatan is the first entity to have a career and specialty in Cybersecurity in the entire Southeast of the country, preparing young people for the labor field hand in hand with technology, where the new Cybersecurity laboratories will reinforce their professionalization with innovative equipment, being the only ones of its kind within the National Network of Technological Institutes and Polytechnic Universities.
The Cybersecurity laboratories were designed for the development of specialists in the field and the research and innovation of governance procedures managed detection and response to emerging digital threats in different application areas, such as Industry 4.0, Industrial Control Systems (ICS/SCADA) in critical infrastructures, Fintech, Blockchain, IoT, Artificial Intelligence, among others.
These spaces have the capabilities of simulation of attack and defense in real time, simulation of infrastructures for hacking tests, emulation of environments for mitigation of vulnerabilities in software and hardware, research and development of new vulnerabilities. The UPY laboratory was built with an effort of 4 million pesos and the UTM laboratory with 3.5 million pesos, which are added to the innovation, design and digital manufacturing and Logistics 4.0 laboratories that were opened last year at UTM.
About these new spaces, the President of the National Chamber of the Telecommunications and Information Technology Industry in Yucatan (CANIETI), Julian Morales Ricas, said that today is a historic day in Yucatan with the opening of the new Cybersecurity laboratories that put education in the state at a high level.
“It is clear to us the Governor’s commitment and effort to prepare young Yucatecans with the best in technology. Today, cybersecurity is essential in this digital era we are living in and it is fundamental to invest in this topic and stay ahead of the curve. It is not only necessary to have the political will, but also the infrastructure and equipment with the latest technologies; now it is up to the young people to study tirelessly and we are sure that tomorrow they will be hired anywhere in the world and very well paid,” said the business leader.
Accompanied by the first year students of the Cybersecurity course, Gabriela López Chan and Fernando Castillo Contreras, Vila Dosal pointed out that the world is changing every day, so the State Government has incorporated new courses to state universities so that young people stop studying traditional careers where the labor market is scarce and salaries are low and have the opportunity to prepare them for quality and better paid jobs.
“In order for our young people in these careers to have jobs, we must go out to promote Yucatan nationally and internationally to bring the jobs you need with more and better job opportunities,” said Vila Dosal to the Commanders of the X Military Region, Major General Homero Mendoza Ruiz and the XIII Naval Zone, Vice Admiral Gabriel Alberto Baez Lopez.
In a recount of the international companies that have decided to work in Yucatán, Vila Dosal mentioned that Uchiyama hired 9 young people from UPY; Webhelp, a French company, hired young people from the Tecnológico de Progreso and people from Umán, Kanasín and Hunucmá; ABB, a Swiss company, hired 17 Yucatecan engineers graduated from UPY and UTM and with Accenture, they will take entire generations of young people from Valladolid and Tekax to work with them virtually.
“The first thing we need is that you have all the necessary knowledge and tools, but also that you help us to convince more young people to study these types of careers, because the possibilities that you have of leaving with a job that has a good salary are high and this is the great opportunity that we have and that we want you to take advantage of.”
For this reason, the Governor continued, we started to work with the company Accenture, experts in cybersecurity, which brought to the state, more than a thousand job positions to create a study program that responds to the work that is needed in the labor field. In this way, we are preparing our young Yucatecans to take advantage of the job opportunities that are being brought to Yucatan, as a result of a strong national and international promotion of the state, which is generating important investments in the state, said the Governor.
In this sense, Vila Dosal pointed out that there is a gender gap in which 80% of those who study engineering are men and only 20% are women, “so we are promoting the incorporation of women in this field with 100% scholarships for enrollment and tuition so that the economic aspect is not an impediment to their professional preparation.
Regarding the preparation of young Yucatecans, the Governor pointed out that the State English Agenda is also being implemented, with bilingual environments from preschool, elementary and high school, which goes hand in hand with the International Mobility Program, which last year benefited 170 young people, this year will benefit 340 and is expected to benefit 500 next year. Recently agreements were signed with universities in the United States and Canada to strengthen ties for the exchange of students abroad.
On the other hand, the Rector of the Polytechnic University of Yucatan (UPY), Alfredo Martin Ulibarri Benítez, highlighted Vila Dosal’s support to the teaching and administrative staff and the students of this university so that each time, they have what they need to prepare them academically for the future. “Thank you, Governor, for all your support and we follow your example, because working as a team with courage and enthusiasm, united, we will continue to transform Yucatan,” he said.
In the presence of the Consul General of the United States in Merida, Dorothy Ngutter, the Rector of the UPY, Alfredo Martin Ulibarri Benitez, explained that the technical capabilities were designed with the objective of having multiple test environments where students can develop their skills in a data network isolated from fields, virtual servers, visualization of attacks and defenses, with which participants will have the sensitivity of detection, defense and protection of information data stored, processed and through information technology and communications.
Later, the Governor, together with Ulibarri Benítez, cut the inaugural ribbon of the rectory and administration building for the benefit of the student, administrative and teaching community and toured the rectory areas comprising the boardroom, SITE, kitchen, administrative area boardroom, administrative support area and the offices of Human Resources, Information Technology and Communications (ICT’s), purchasing, accounting and liaison.
As well as the unveiling of the plaque of the cybersecurity laboratory which will have the necessary capabilities to develop the tactical and technical skills of the students of Cybersecurity Engineering and the procedures related to the management of cybersecurity. There, he toured the facilities where he verified the proper functioning of the innovative equipment.
The Governor was accompanied by the State Coordinator of the National Guard in Yucatán, Inés Meléndez Estrada; the representative of the Ministry of the Interior in Yucatán (Segob), Andrés Peralta Rivera; Miguel Ángel Soberanis Camejo, Head of the Office of the Attorney General’s Office in Yucatán, and Jorge Abel Charruf Cáceres, President of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) and of the National Chamber of the Transformation Industry, Yucatán Delegation (CANACINTRA).
Also present were the heads of the Secretaries General of Government (SGG), María Fritz Sierra; of Research, Innovation and Higher Education of Yucatán (SIIES), Mauricio Cámara Leal; of Public Security (SSP), Luis Felipe Saidén Ojeda; and of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), Juan Manuel León.
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