Eyes on UMBC

Idea in Focus: Making Cyberspace Safer




Cyberspace can be a dangerous place--where information can fall into the wrong hands--but UMBC is in the vanguard of making our digital world more secure. This spring, the National Security Agency (NSA) designated UMBC a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, one of only 23 universities in the nation to achieve this distinction.

The NSA established the Centers of Academic Excellence program to help reduce vulnerabilities in the national information infrastructure and to promote the training of information security specialists. UMBC produces nearly 40 percent of the IT bachelor's degrees awarded in Maryland. The new NSA Center of Excellence designation recognizes the innovative work of UMBC's Center for Information Security and Assurance, an interdepartmental research and education effort within the College of Engineering.

UMBC won the NSA distinction after a rigorous analysis by a review board composed of representatives from the NSA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, industry, and academia, which "measured the depth and maturity" of UMBC's information assurance programs.



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