Texas A&M Defends Cyberspace Against Attackers

Today, we’re more connected, technologically speaking, than we’ve ever been. That’s all fine and good … until it’s not.

Cyber attacks happen every day, and the more connected we become, the more vulnerable we are to the growing number of enemies trying to hack into our personal information. And though many of us are concerned about smaller attacks on our personal information, we have even more reason to be concerned about larger attacks that affect our national security.

Since the early 1990s, just a couple years after the World Wide Web was invented, Texas A&M has played an active role in advancing cybersecurity. In 2015, the Aggies opened the Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center under the direction of Dr. Daniel Ragsdale, a Texas A&M Computer Science Ph.D and retired 30-year Army veteran. The center boasts rapidly growing graduate and undergraduate cybersecurity courses to produce a top-notch cybersecurity workforce and to secure the world’s information infrastructures. Its internationally renowned faculty group is currently engaged in groundbreaking cybersecurity research projects including protecting GPS signals, proactive cyber defense, and strengthening and protecting the nation’s power grid.

The center’s mission is “to develop novel and innovative methods for cybersecurity education, and also to facilitate the conduct of groundbreaking basic and applied cybersecurity research.” In addition to that, they’re committed to making “outsized contributions to social good through the development of transformational cybersecurity capabilities.”

In pursuit of that mission, they’ve been named a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations, Education, and Research by the National Security Agency. Though they’re just one of eight universities to hold all three distinctions, the Aggies will not rest on their laurels. They continue to call on faculty and students from all kinds of disciplines to help strengthen their program.

“We need to bring academic disciplines that aren’t only technically oriented into the cybersecurity community,” Ragsdale said. The technical aspect is obviously extremely important, but to address other aspects of cybersecurity, he said, “We need to engage with folks that are involved in psychology, behavioral science, sociology, ethics, law, and business.” This combination of faculty and students from different disciplines working together helps make huge strides in research, education, and partnerships that contribute to stronger cyber defenses throughout our connected world.

In the SEC, It Just Means More.

To Texas A&M, It Just Means More Than 1s and 0s — It Means More Qualified Cyber Defenders.