The University of Texas at San Antonio's

CENTER for

INFRASTRUCTURE

ASSURANCE &

SECURITY

UTSA has been designated by the National Security Agency as a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education.

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The Leader in Advancement of State and Community Cybersecurity

Established in 2001 as part of UTSA’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.

Certification Courses

Customized Training

NCCDC Competition

CyberPatriot Competition

Hivestorm Competition

No-Cost Training (NCPC)

Maturity Model (CCSMM)

Cyber Threat Defender

Cyber Threat Protector

Cyber Threat Guardian

Celebrating 20 Years at UTSA

The CIAS has been working to create a culture of cybersecurity and improving the nation’s cybersecurity posture since 2001! Take a look back at our history and activities in the CIAS’ 20th Anniversary Report here.

Ponemon Institute study 2014

In the nation for undergraduate cybersecurity
# 10

Universities.com ranking 2016

In the nation for graduate cybersecurity
# 10

National Security Agency

NSA Designations
1

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.

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2024

Competitors Worldwide
1 ,000

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.

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Reached

Small Businesses
1

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.

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Played In

Countries
1

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

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CIAS-ISAO

Members
1

National Cybersecurity
Preparedness Consortium

Filling the cybersecurity gap since 2004

View Our Courses

A Collaboration of Five Universities

The University of Arkansas
The University of Texas at San Antonio
Texas A&M
The University of Memphis
Norwich University
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Testimonials

This Is What They Say

“NCCDC challenges students’ ability to work together as a team, and rely on their critical thinking skills to apply their knowledge real-time in a stressful situation.”
Tom NedorostUCF Coach
“The quality of the presentation [on Continuity Planning] and the value of the content easily makes this the best webinar I have attended since the plague days started. CIAS-ISAO aren't the ones to steal on.”
James GasserCity of Austin
“My students love playing Cyber Threat Defender. We use it in my computer repair course, and it is really the only exposure to security they get. I find that as they continue to play the game and get used to the available cards, they are also getting a basic understanding of the different threats and security features that are out there.”
Jason SmithBenjamin Logan High School
“An excellent course [on Organizational Information Sharing] to begin, enhance or refine your information sharing life cycle. The scenarios really help to step outside your own POV that adds to the overall thought process.”
Lonie PackerTrinity Valley Community College
“Awesome, thank you so much! My students have been diving into the game and have enjoyed learning how to play. The use of vocabulary has been amazing, and the conversations have been on track with what I have been wanting them to talk about during computer science class.”
Nikki ParkerIraan High School
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The CIAS was established at UTSA in June of 2001 as part of UTSA’s creation of a cybersecurity program. The CIAS delivers quality research, training, K-12 education, and competition and exercise programs to advance organizational and community cybersecurity capabilities and collaboration.

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© 2025 The Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License

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