UTSA selected to create cybersecurity information sharing standards
CIAS Director Greg B. White, Congressman Joaquin Castro and President Ricardo Romo.
CIAS Director Greg B. White, Congressman Joaquin Castro and President Ricardo Romo.
Share this Story(Sept. 14, 2015) — The University of Texas at San Antonio has been selected by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to create standards for sharing cybersecurity information among organizations and with the government as part of President Obama’s initiative to improve the nation’s cybersecurity posture.
The guidelines are meant to make it easier for entities known as Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations, or ISAOs, to communicate with each other and federal agencies in an effort to make computer systems more secure.
“Information sharing is a good thing for everybody,” said Greg B. White, professor of computer science and director of the UTSA Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security. “So how do we get everybody else involved in this information-sharing domain? There have been no overarching standards issued on how to create these organizations and how they communicate with the government.”
UTSA received the grant, which amounts to $11 million over five years, in partnership with LMI, a not for profit government consulting firm, and the Retail Cyber Intelligence Sharing Center (R-CISC).
“There was a lot of competition from several impressive organizations. It’s just another example of UTSA’s continuing growth as an institution,” White said.
“LMI and UTSA form a great team for addressing information sharing, bringing our interests together to improve the cybersecurity of the nation,” LMI senior strategist Richard Lipsey said. “What is at stake is the security of our nation.”
Earlier this year, President Barack Obama issued an executive order as part of his cybersecurity initiative to select an institution to establish information sharing guidelines. UTSA’s team was selected just a few weeks after applying.
White and his team will begin work in October. While industry interest in cybersecurity has grown as a result of the very public hacks into companies like Target and Sony, White said that these attacks will spread unless information sharing is more widespread.
“This is critical for the prevention of and response to cybercrime,” he said. “Creating more ISAOs means we’ll all be doing a better job of protecting everyone.”
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