Electronic misconduct — it could be called the crime of the century.

Cyberstalkers reading your e-mail, hackers tunnelling into your company’s financial data, or even just an employee storing pornography on an office computer.

As the influence of the Internet spreads, electronic misconduct has become a persistent security risk for businesses, governments and police services in Canada and around the globe.

Soon, Calgarians will get their first glimpse at a new crime-fighting tool as the University of Calgary and security information specialist JAWZ Inc. unveil a $1.5-million high-tech centre to fight the scourge of cybercrime.

After some last-minute design-related delays, the eSecurity Innovation Centre has announced a tentative opening date and will start offering courses in early January. A press conference will be held soon to officially introduce the first-of-its-kind facility.

In the words of Dr. Tom Keenan, dean of the Faculty of Continuing Education and the brains behind the centre, the facility will be a “high-tech battleground where the best security defences are pitted against the nastiest computer invasion techniques.”

The 2,400-sq.-ft. facility, in the new Calgary Technology Centre at University Research Park, will offer courses including current computer security techniques, professional certification and security risk assessment. There will also be a hands-on computer forensics lab which can be used for cybercrime investigations.

“Today, if you confiscate cybercrime evidence, what do you do with it?” asks Zak Karbalai, program developer for the centre, adding few companies have resources or expertise in this area.

Karbalai says the centre will offer tools to recover deleted e-mails and files, as well as state-of-the-art technology to preserve digital evidence in crime and computer misuse cases. It will also be developing expertise in the area of wireless security.

Karbalai says businesses, law-enforcement agencies and the government are all potential clients at the centre, which will have a wireless link to the U of C’s continuing education computer servers.

The information security industry “is the new thing,” Karbalai predicts. While hackers used to penetrate major sites like e-Bay, CNN and even the Pentagon simply for bragging rights, “it’s now a money business,” he says, with serious financial and even political consequences.

“If you take over somebody’s computer, you take over their life,” he notes. Caroline Baynes, manager of the eSecurity Innovation Centre, says Calgary police will be approached to see if they want to use the facility, or hire some of the centre’s consultants.

“Their department has really limited resources in terms of forensics work, so definitely something like this would help them,” she says.

Courses will run on two tracks — a six-week fast track or a part-time track that takes four months to complete, which allows companies to send their IT staff for regular training and upgrading.

Baynes says costs will be kept comparable to other university-level computer courses, and the university is working with JAWZ Inc. to set up professional certification for computer security products and courses.

Registration will be set up through the University of Calgary Web site (www.ucalgary.ca).

Said Alberta Innovation and Science Minister Lorne Taylor: “The establishment of this centre strengthens Alberta’s growing reputation as a global leader in information technology and security, and as a result will help us attract and retain some of the brightest and best minds to live and work in the province.”

Telus Corp. recently signed on as a founding sponsor of the eSecurity Innovation Centre with a $225,000 commitment and is participating on the centre’s executive committee.

JAWZ Inc., founded in Calgary and now largely operated out of Toronto, specializes in Internet and computer security software products, consulting and remote electronic data storage.

Baynes says the centre will help put Calgary on the e-business map for computer security innovation and research.

“It’s really a great thing to be a part of,” she adds.

“It will increase computer security awareness, and offer opportunities to people in the community to develop their skill set in the training that’s going to be happening there.”