Springfield’s Union Station will be site of Cybersecurity Center of Excellence with $1.5 million state grant
SPRINGFIELD — Union Station commuters will wait for trains and grab their morning coffee while on the other side of the Dunkin’ Donuts and Subway, unseen in a not-so -secret lab, a new generation of cyber warriors will hone their skills and even battle still-emerging global security threats.
Springfield Technical Community College and a consortium of Western Massachusetts colleges and universities received a $1.46 million state grant Monday with the backing of the U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield to establish a Cybersecurity Center of Excellence.
The funding from the outgoing administration of Gov. Charlie Baker-Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and the Mass Cyber Center, along with $500,000 from the city, will establish a security operations center and cyber range at Union Station. College officials say they hope to have the 6,000-square-foot center open in early 2024.
It is one of two such centers to be established in the state. The other will be situated at Bridgewater State University.
“This is cutting-edge technology,” Neal said, going on to describe how cybersecurity is a daily presence in all of our lives. “Let’s be frank about it, the threat comes from Russia and China. That’s where the threat comes from,” added Neal, chairman of the House Committee on Ways & Means.
He thanked Polito and former Baker administration official Jay Ash for their help on the project. Neal also thanked the late Kevin E. Kennedy for his work in getting the Union Station project completed. Kennedy, who died in August at age 70, was the city’s chief economic development officer and, before that, a longtime aide to the congressman.
Location of the cybersecurity center on the first floor of Union Station means building owner Springfield Redevelopment Authority will now have 80% of the building occupied, Neal added. It was Neal who spearheaded the decades-long effort to rehab once-derelict Union Station with $103 million in state, local and federal money into a transportation hub with trains, buses, parking, retail and office uses.
“It’s another part of the good story Union Station tells,” Neal said.
Mary Kaselouskas, Springfield Technical Community College vice president and chief information officer, said Union Station is a great location because it’s accessible to the public and helps attract a diverse group of students and workers. It also makes the center part of the region, not just of the college. Partners include Bay Path University, Elms College, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Western New England University, Springfield College and American International College.
The cyber range will open first with the latest in hardware and software. There, students will be able to learn how to identify and neutralize threats. It’s a range like a practice range that police might use, suitable for simulations or red team versus blue team war games.
In year three or four, the program will grow to include a security operations center, providing real-world security protection to municipal governments, small business and nonprofits.
Kaselouskas said the operations center will eventually generate revenue and also help protect customers across Western Massachusetts.
If a municipal government, for instance, has a question or perceives a threat, said Peter Sherlock, CEO of CyberTrust Massachusetts, “They will be on the phone with young talent.”
Sherlock said the work space is meant to encourage teamwork.
“This is where they’ll learn,” he said. “It is where faculty and students, professionals and those entering the industry will get to know each other and build collaborations and community of cybersecurity for the state.”
The consortium of Western Massachusetts colleges and universities was important to the selection of the Springfield site. It’s too expensive an undertaking, especially the software, for one college to set up on its own, Kaselouskas said.
Stephanie Helm, director of the Mass Cyber Center, said the concept of having both the training lab and the real-world operations center in one physical location reminds her of her time in the Navy. “Then, the students can do the simulations, get the training, and then go right next door and see the knowledge put into practice,” she said.
Kaselouskas said STCC has about 150 students in its cybersecurity program already.
Bay Path’s cybersecurity program, meanwhile, dates back to 2013. In 2019, when it was awarded a $250,000 state grant to offer its students on-the-job experience through a partnership with Hadley-based Paragus Strategic IT, Bay Path had 40 students in the two-year master’s degree program and another 32 students majoring in cybersecurity in the undergraduate program.
Gloss