The University of Texas at San Antonio's
UT San Antonio has been designated by the National Security Agency as a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education.
The Leader in Advancement of State and Community Cybersecurity
Established in 2001 as part of UT San Antonio’s creation of a cybersecurity program, the CIAS is a research center on a mission to secure the nation’s infrastructure and foster a Culture of Cybersecurity. This grassroots-level research effort continues to produce practical campaigns, such as cybersecurity training and preparedness, cybersecurity competitions and K12 education programs.
20+ Years at UT San Antonio
Ponemon Institute study 2014
Universities.com ranking 2016
National Security Agency
Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Research Cyber Operations
high-quality, high-impact
Competitions
The CIAS hosts the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, Panoply and HiveStorm, and co-founded CyberPatriot. The CIAS has been developing and conducting competition programs to educate, train and prepare individuals for the cybersecurity workforce since 2005.
2024
high-quality, high-impact
Cybersecurity Training
Courses
Seminars
Workshops
Our training efforts focus on improving overall cybersecurity awareness, technical capabilities, professional development and continuity plans. We’ve been helping professionals, organizations and communities prevent, detect, respond to and recover from cyber incidents for more than 20 years.
Reached
K-12 Education
Gaming
Committed to creating a culture of cybersecurity nationwide, the CIAS focuses on K-12 education that introduces students to cybersecurity principles through educational gaming and storytelling. Our goals are to create good cyber hygiene and awareness of cyber careers.
Played In
World Leader
Leading the ISAO Standards Organization since 2015 and helping SLTTs establish comprehensive cybersecurity programs as the CIAS-ISAO, the CIAS actively engages the information sharing community to promote secure, rapid and widespread information sharing that helps detect and block cyber-attacks.
Information Sharing
CIAS-ISAO
National Cybersecurity
Preparedness Consortium
Filling the cybersecurity gap since 2004
A Collaboration of Five Universities
Testimonials
This Is What They Say
Press Coverage
We're in the News
UTSA supporting White House Office of the National Cybersecurity Director workforce initiatives
With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is hosting a conference to accelerate workforce initiatives prioritized
CIAS K-12 Cybersecurity Program awarded grant to expand cybersecurity awareness nationwide
MAY 20, 2021 — The Gula Tech Foundation has awarded UTSA’s Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS) a $250,000 grant to raise public awareness about cybersecurity. The foundation distributed $1 million in grants across seven winners, with the CIAS being recognized as its first-place recipient.
Senate Passes Cornyn Bill to Enhance Cybersecurity Programs at UTSA, A&M
(November 22, 2019) — U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) released the following statement after the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium Act, legislation that would authorize the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to work with the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium (NCPC) to help prepare for and respond to cybersecurity risks at the national, state, and local levels, passed the Senate.
University of Central Florida wins 2022 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition
SAN ANTONIO (April 25, 2022) – The University of Central Florida competed against nine other student-led teams to become champion of the 2022 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC), presented by the CIAS in partnership with the competition’s presenting sponsor Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a Raytheon Technologies business. This year, more than 1,500 competitors from 171 schools across the country participated in the 17th annual NCCDC, held in San Antonio from April 21-23.
Introducing Alan CyBear, the Smokey Bear of Cybersecurity
The cultural icon Smokey Bear, with his yellow hat and wildfire prevention tagline, has been familiar to Americans for decades. Likewise, McGruff the Crime Dog, who encouraged the public to “Take a bite out of crime.” Today, younger generations have the Safetypup to help children learn about safety issues from law enforcement.
Each of these famous characters has helped encourage a culture of security. But what about a culture of cybersecurity?
SingularityHub.com: Undeclared Wars in Cyberspace are Becoming More Aggressive and Automated
(August 1, 2019) — The definition of what constitutes a cyber attack is a broad one, according to Greg White, executive director of the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS) at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).
At the level of nation-state attacks, cyberwarfare could involve “attacking systems during peacetime—such as our power grid or election systems.”
BizJournals: Municipalities becoming more prominent target for cybercrime
Municipalities are being attacked and their data is being held ransom by cybercriminals. Recently, 22 cities in Texas were hit with simultaneous ransomware attacks. The attack on the 22 cities was a hot topic during two recent back-to-back conferences in San Antonio: the CyberTexas Foundation conference and the Information Sharing and Analysis Organization Standards Organization’s third annual International Information Sharing Conference hosted by the CIAS at UTSA.
Online Gaming Tips for Parents
BLOG — No matter how old your child may be, there are some common sense best practices, as well as steps you can take, to help the players in your home enjoy playing online games in a safe and cyber-secure environment. To help you navigate the online gaming world, consider the following tips before and after your child begins to play a game online.
Field Set for 2023 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition Championship
Top 10 teams in the nation will meet in Dallas to compete April 28-30 DALLAS, TEXAS—The Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS) at The