UTSA College of Business hosts Cyber Endeavour conference

(June 26, 2018) – Hundreds of military and civilian practitioners from across government, industry and academia gathered at UTSA this month to discuss strategies to strengthen the protection of the nation’s critical infrastructure. The College of Business hosted the 2018 Cyber Endeavour conference June 19-21 at the UTSA Main Campus.

The conference, Cyber and the Future of Military Affairs: Shaping the Next Evolution, was organized by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Information Operations Center for Research, located at the Naval Postgraduate School and the Army Reserve Cyber Operations Group, 335^th Signal Command.

The Army approached UTSA business professor Glenn Dietrich to host the conference at UTSA after receiving cybersecurity training from the university through the Army Reserve Cyber Private Public Partnership Program (Cyber P3i). Cyber P3i is creating a pipeline of highly skilled army reservists to fill critical cybersecurity positions with the federal government, advancing the nation’s ability to protect its power grid, water systems petroleum pipelines.

UTSA, which enrolls more than 2,500 graduate and undergraduate cybersecurity students,  has the nation’s leading cybersecurity program, according to a nationwide survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute. The university’s unique approach includes researchers in business, science, engineering and liberal and fine arts, who work in multiple centers and institutes focused on solving global security challenges in today’s increasingly technological world: the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security, the Institute of Cyber Security, the Cyber Center for Security & Analytics, the Open Cloud Institute and the Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute.

“This conference is planned and executed each year as a training event for the Army Reserve Cyber Operations Group,” said CW4 Christopher Manuel of the Army Reserve Cyber Operations Group’s S-3 Special Projects. “San Antonio is well known as a cyber center of excellence, and our Army Reserve Cyber Protection Group is based in San Antonio. We also partnered with UTSA because of its highly-rated cyber curriculum and programs.”

Prior to the conference, UTSA hosted the Cyber X-Games, a five-day exercise featuring advanced, live cyber training exercises and a leadership symposium, for the Army Reserves.

“Hosting this conference enhances UTSA’s reputation as a leader in the cybersecurity industry,” said Dietrich, who organized the conference with the DOD and Army Reserve with support from IP Secure.

On June 9-12, participants of the Army Reserve Cyber Operations Group, 335^th Signal Command participated in a private training exploring emerging cybersecurity issues including real-life scenarios and software package training.

— Ingrid Wright and Wendy Frost

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