DECEMBER 10, 2020 — To commemorate its 20th anniversary, Digital Defense, a leader in vulnerability management and threat assessment solutions, has announced the establishment of a financial endowment for the Department of Computer Science at UTSA. The endowment will provide scholarships and support to students on the path to a software engineering or cybersecurity career. In addition, it will support UTSA and its efforts to further enhance what is already one of the most highly regarded cybersecurity programs in the nation.
Digital Defense has a long-standing relationship with the university, including collaboration through an intern recruitment program. Over the years UTSA’s software engineering and cybersecurity programs have produced exceptional candidates who have transitioned into full-time roles at the company. Additionally, Digital Defense’s Frontline.Cloud software as a service technology is utilized in the UTSA cybersecurity curriculum as a real-world training tool. The security platform helps students test for hidden threats on their target networks and learn about the vulnerability management process.
“We are grateful to be celebrating our 20th anniversary, a significant milestone, and wanted to give back to San Antonio, our hometown community, and the cybersecurity industry at large. Furthering our partnership with UTSA allows us to do both,” said Larry Hurtado, president and CEO of Digital Defense. “We seek out every opportunity to help our nation and organizations around the globe protect their information assets from cyberattacks. The establishment of the UTSA endowment does just that—affording us the opportunity to help support the education of future generations of cybersecurity and engineering professionals and, longer term, providing additional relief to the cybersecurity workforce shortage.”
UTSA is an elite San Antonio higher education institution with national recognition in the cybersecurity field. Its cyber security program ranked best in the nation according to a Hewlett-Packard sponsored survey by the Ponemon Institute and its cybersecurity graduate program was ranked second by Universities.com.
Scholarship opportunities will be available starting in 2021. Students enrolled at least part-time, in good standing and majoring in computer science with concentrations in either cybersecurity or software engineering are encouraged to apply.
“As one of the first cybersecurity companies in the world and cloud-based technologies in San Antonio, Digital Defense is an inspiring example of the impactful work that our students want to achieve in their own future careers,” said David Silva, dean of the College of Sciences at UTSA. “Our students have greatly benefited from the internships and employment opportunities that Digital Defense has provided over the years. We are grateful for the company’s ongoing support and the endowed undergraduate scholarship will allow even more students to pursue a cybersecurity or software engineering career.”
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