DerScanner partners with SMU to boost students’ skills in combating cyber threats

20 Sept 2025 (Singapore) 

Singapore Management University has inked an educational partnership with DerScanner, a leading application security testing company, and its local distributor Athena Dynamics Pte Ltd, that will equip the university's computing students with hands-on experience using industry-standard cybersecurity tools.

The partnership will support students at the School of Computing and Information Systems (SCIS) in software development and cybersecurity to support their IT and security literacy to strengthen their technical and security skills for the professional development of future IT specialists.  

 

Why it's important?

The School seeks to build a strong pipeline of cybersecurity talent by equipping students with latest application security testing and analysis tools developed by DerScanner. The School recognises that it is more effective to design security into software from the beginning as building security in from the start scales better as systems grow in complexity. Therefore, training budding software engineers that can code with security in mind is important.

Under the partnership, DerSecur provides the University with the DerScanner platform, a strong scanning platform to find and remediate vulnerabilities in application code early in the development process.  

"We are excited about this partnership with DerSecur and ADPL,"

said Professor PANG Hwee Hwa, Dean of School of Computing and Information Systems.

"This collaboration allows our students to use DerScanner as a comprehensive, full-cycle security platform for our software and security courses. This ensures they don't just learn about security in theory; they gain hands-on experience from Day One. For our Cybersecurity specialists, they will gain crucial skills in vulnerability analysis and threat detection. DerScanner's advanced binary analysis allows them to examine software when the source code is not available. They also learn how to correlate static and dynamic application security testing findings via the platform.”

“For our Software Engineers, the value is in developing a security-first mindset. By using DerScanner from the start of their projects, they will learn to use it to identify and fix vulnerabilities, and have a deeper understanding of how their code contributes to secure applications,” he added.

Mr Ken Soh, the CEO at Athena Dynamics Pte Ltd, said:

“The future of cybersecurity starts with our people. By giving SMU students hands-on access to DerScanner, we’re equipping them with real-world application security skills, harnessing disruptive innovation in application security to build their capability and confidence to secure software and lead in a digital-first world.”

Mrs. Lauren Connell, PR Director at DerSecur said:

“We are proud to support students at SCIS as they take their first steps into the field of application security. Their success matters to us, because today’s students will soon be the specialists responsible for protecting the systems we all rely on. DerScanner is already used by enterprises to identify and fix security flaws in business-critical software. By bringing the same tools into the classroom, we give students real-life experience with the technologies and practices companies depend on every day.”

 

Why DerScanner?

DerScanner is a full cycle application security testing platform that helps organisations identify and fix vulnerabilities in their software early by analysing the software’s source code and executable files to make it safer against hacking and other security risks. 

As DerScanner integrates multiple security testing methodologies within a single platform, including examining the code without running it (Static Application Security Testing), simulating attacks on the running application (Dynamic Application Security Testing), and software composition analysis (to check the safety of open-source components). This provides a unified approach for modern software development to address the complexities and demands of the DevOps software development and IT operations environments.

In recent years, demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals has risen, as corporations seek to safeguard both critical security and economic interests. Worldwide, it has been estimated that 4.8 million more professionals are needed globally to fully secure organisations, as cybercrime increases.

With the powers of DerScanner SCIS students gain practical experience in detecting and analysing security vulnerabilities in web and mobile applications, as well as in DevOps workflows in courses such as Web Application Development, Data Security & Privacy, and Collaborative Software Development. As students learn applied cybersecurity concepts they are also exposed to industry-standard security practices and tools, which will better prepare them for professions in defending against cyber threats and creating a safer digital domain for all.