UTSA's cyber security center moves into new home
The Institute for Cyber Security Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security at the University of Texas at San Antonio is moving to a new home on campus; Congress, DHS, and the Defense departments have thrown their money behind UTSA, which the New York Times has named one of the best places to get training as a “cyber sleuth”
The University of Texas at San Antonio last Friday celebrated new digs for one of the nation’s leading cyber security training facilities, the Institute for Cyber Security-Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security.
Located on Lockhill Selma Road, the 9,000-square-foot facility contains offices and a classroom to teach government and private-sector employees about cyber security and how to fend off malicious attacks.
“This is now Cyber City, USA,” UTSA President Ricardo Romo said, adding that it is an $8 billion industry. “We could not have better friends and partnerships.”
Melissa Ludwig writes in the Express-News that one of those friends is U.S. Representative Ciro Rodriguez, who jump-started the center back in 2001 when he asked UTSA to conduct the nation’s first dark-screen exercise to explore how officials would react if hackers tried to bring down the region’s critical infrastructure, such as the power grid.
Since then, Rodriguez has delivered millions in earmarks for the center, which has grown from around five to thirty employees.
Under the direction of Greg White, staff members have traveled to dozens of U.S. cities to train communities to recognize and defend against cyber attacks.
In 2004 White founded the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. Working in teams, college students run a fictitious business while warding off hackers. The competition has been expanded to area high schools, where it’s called Cyber Patriots. “These are our fighting geeks,” Rodriguez quipped.
In its quest for Tier One research status, UTSA has chosen cyber security as a field in which the university can make a name for itself nationally.
Congress, and the Homeland Security and Defense departments have thrown their money behind UTSA, which the New York Times has named one of the best places to get training as a “cyber sleuth.”
In 2007 UTSA hired internationally renowned expert Ravi Sandhu to head up the university’s Institute for Cyber Security, where he researches social network security, critical infrastructure protection and trustworthy cloud computing.
Last month UTSA hired Frederick Chang, a cyber security star from UT-Austin, to hold the inaugural, $1 million AT&T Distinguished Chair in Infrastructure Assurance and Security in UTSA’s College of Business.
