A Responsive University - President’s Annual Report 2018

UGA’s cybersecurity initiatives span its teaching, research, and service missions, helping businesses and communities across Georgia protect against the devastating economic effects of cyberattacks. The University is also greatly expanding its capacity in informatics, leveraging big data to tackle grand challenges ranging from infectious diseases to food security and economic development.

Cybersecurity

As a land- and sea-grant institution, the University of Georgia continues to evolve to help find solutions to the most pressing challenges of our time. UGA’s response to the growing threat to cybersecurity is a case in point.

Data and new forms of technology have made a transformative impact on the ways that individuals act, businesses operate, and governments serve citizens. While big data and new technology have enhanced access to information, they also have opened the door to a new challenge: cybercrime.

The rising, and increasingly costly, threat of cybercrime is vexing businesses and communities around the world, including in Georgia. Malicious cyber activity costs the U.S. economy between $50-$100 billion a year, according to government estimates.

The University of Georgia…

… has recognized these significant challenges in cybersecurity and is applying a multifaceted approach to safeguard critical data and infrastructure in Georgia.

For some time, the UGA Small Business Development Center and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government have been offering technical assistance to Georgia stakeholders regarding cybersecurity. In fall 2017, UGA launched the CyberArch program to connect business and civic leaders with faculty from Public Service and Outreach, the UGA Institute for Cybersecurity and Privacy, and the broader Georgia Informatics Institutes for Research and Education at UGA.

This initiative, which is being piloted in Hart and Spalding counties, provides a collaborative and intensive program that addresses community-identified needs to promote security and economic vitality.

In addition, UGA’s Institute for Cybersecurity and Privacy is advancing interdisciplinary research with implications for economic vitality and national security. Faculty members in this institute are conducting research funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Air Force, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and several corporations.

Discussion between students and professor with a projection of code on the wall behind them

The University is preparing the next generation of leaders to address cybersecurity challenges and opportunities by providing students with critical skills related to digital literacy, data management, and information processing.

Cybersecurity Certificate Program

The University also offers a graduate certificate program in cybersecurity to equip graduate students with cutting-edge cybersecurity and privacy concepts and to contribute to the formation of well-trained cyber defense practitioners and researchers. An undergraduate certificate program in informatics is now available as well. By earning this certificate, undergraduate students can differentiate themselves to employers and gain perspective on an increasingly digital society driven by supply and demand for data.