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
TechTonics: Meet the Professor Tapped to Unite Us in the Fight Against Hackers
(August 29, 2019) — Greg White wants you to share information. Not necessarily with him, but with your business competitors and industry peers. The University of Texas at San Antonio computer science professor is leading the charge to create a nationwide network of information-sharing outfits – from mariachi groups to investment firms – in a strength-in-numbers approach to combating cyberattacks.
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.
Georgia Recorder: Cyber attack headaches linger at state patrol, other Ga. agencies
(September 9, 2019) — Cyber attacks that hit some state agencies in Georgia earlier this summer continue to ripple through the system, particularly for law enforcement and the courts. Meanwhile, security officials work to boost software safeguards and train thousands of employees to avoid triggering future attacks. … All Georgia government agencies should instruct employees not to open suspicious emails or documents, said Greg White, the director of the CIAS.
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
UTSA receives $1.2 million CISA grant to develop Pilot Program for SLTT Governments
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has awarded the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS) at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) a $1.2 million grant to conduct a pilot program to help state, local, tribal and territorial governments identify high value assets (HVA) in order to prioritize resources and planning. The pilot will aid these governments in establishing an HVA program that aligns with the federal government’s while maintaining the flexibility needed to incorporate their individual needs.
Learn How to Create an Effective Password
BLOG – To create effective passwords, let’s begin by making sure we’re all on the same page about what is a password.
Passwords are a form of identification that people use to prove their identity when logging in to a system. Create an effective password that is memorable, but complex. Generally, longer passwords are stronger passwords. If you forget a password or it is easily accessible by others, then that password is no longer useful or effective.
ExpressNews.com: Leaders tout San Antonio’s defenses against cyber attacks
(August 21, 2019) — After hackers last week hijacked the data of 22 Texas towns, tech experts in San Antonio this week said the city isn’t impervious to such attacks — but it has one of the strongest cyber defenses of any U.S. community. “We still have a lot to do,” said Greg White, a leading regional cybersecurity expert and director of the CIAS at UTSA. “But we’re on the right path.”
University of California, Irvine wins Alamo Cup at 20th National Collegiate Cyber Defense Championship
University of California, Irvine triumphed at the 2025 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Championship (NCCDC), prevailing over nine other finalist teams to earn the coveted Alamo
University of Central Florida wins 2021 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Championship
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (March 9, 2021) — University of Central Florida prevailed over nine other schools to win the 2021 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition and the coveted Alamo Cup. The national championship, sponsored by Raytheon Technologies Corporation, was held in an entirely virtual setting.