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
Angelo State and UTSA Partner for Cybersecurity Pilot Program in San Angelo
SAN ANGELO, Texas (August 26, 2021) – The National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity, as part of the National Security Agency (NSA), has awarded a grant in the amount of $1.67 million to the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS) at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) to help communities become more cyber secure nationwide.
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.
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.
Kens5.com: Understanding Cyber Attacks
(January 12, 2020) — In light of the overseas conflict, there’s been a lot of talk about the nation’s vulnerability to cyber-attacks. Dwayne Williams, associate director at the CIAS, provides insights into cyber attacks and how families can protect their homes from cybersecurity vulnerabilities in this Kens5.com interview.
StateScoop: UT San Antonio gets CISA grant to develop high-value asset cybersecurity
(March 9, 2021) — The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Monday announced a $1.2 million grant to a think tank at University of Texas at San Antonio that will launch a pilot program to help state and local governments improve the cyber defenses of their most critical systems.
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
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.
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.
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.”