San Antonio Congressional Delegation Reintroduces Key Cyber Bill

UTSA & Texas A&M to participate in National Cyber Preparedness partnership Texas Insider Report: Washington DC This week the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium Act was reintroduced in both the House and Senate. Co-sponsored by every Congressman in the San Antonio delegation the bill authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to work with the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium (NCPC) to help train local law enforcement and government entities to better prevent cyber-attacks. Both UTSA and Texas A&Ms Engineering Extension Program participate in the NCPC partnership and will play an important role improving cyber preparedness and response in our state and local communities.

As weve witnessed over the past several years no one is immune to cyberattacks including our state and local governments. Unfortunately our community entities often do not possess the same digital resources as the federal government or the tools to detect respond to and recover from a cyberattack said Hurd who serves as Chairman of the House Information Technology Subcommittee and has been a leading voice in government IT and encryption debates. This public-private partnership will strengthen cyber preparedness at the local level while enhancing the profile of San Antonios cybersecurity ecosystem. UTSA is already a leading academic institution in the cybersecurity field and this authorization will further position the university to develop cutting-edge technologies that the rest of the nation will adopt."

UTSA expressed support for the initiative when it was first introduced in 2016. The NCPC and The University of Texas at San Antonio are excited to work more closely with DHS on helping states and communities to develop or improve their viable and sustainable cyber security programs" said Dr. Greg White last year a professor specializing in computer and information security at the University of Texas San Antonio. We believe that the Community Cyber Security Maturity Model that the NCPCs efforts are based on provide a clear roadmap to help states and communities secure their cyber infrastructures." As Ive said before cybersecurity isnt just a buzzword. Its a serious issue that can potentially impact every single American.  This is common-sense legislation that strengthens our nations cyber posture at every level of government Hurd concluded.