About Us

The CIAS was established at UTSA in June of 2001 as part of UTSA''s creation of a cyber security program. The university was recognized in 2002 by the National Security Agency as a leader in the field of infrastructure assurance and security as it was designated a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education.

The CIAS is the operational division of the UTSA Institute for Cyber Security and is designed to leverage its infrastructure assurance and security strengths as part of the solution to the nation''s homeland security needs.

Through its three major divisions, Training, Infrastructure Assurance Program (IAP), and National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC) the CIAS works to improve the overall security of state and community infrastructures, whether physical or logical. Guided implementation of the CIAS Community Cyber Security Maturity Model helps communities all over the country achieve their goals of protecting community assets and the citizens who rely upon their availability.

Enforcing the concepts of protecting essential cyber and physical assets while improving information gathering and sharing initiatives is the goal of the CIAS. Through community cyber security exercises (CCSE), interactive training sessions (Cyber Security Training) , or even an academic setting (Cyber Defense Competitions), the cyber security posture of local communities, states, and even the nation are strengthened.

The CIAS has established partnerships with major influential governmental and non-governmental organizations such as the DoD, DHS, and the United States Secret Service. The CIAS has also been actively involved with sector-based Information Sharing and Analysis Centers'' security preparedness exercises for organizations in critical infrastructures.