The state of Georgia strengthened its position as a national leader in cybersecurity with the July 2018 opening of the Georgia Cyber Center in Augusta.

Since its creation in 2000, the Georgia Technology Authority (GTA) has continuously worked to make the state of Georgia's information technology infrastructure secure from cyber threats both external and internal. The state took a large step forward on January 11, 2017, when Governor Nathan Deal announced his vision for the Cyber Center in his State of the State address. The $100 million center represents the single largest investment in a cybersecurity facility by a state government to date. The center trains the next generation of professionals through education and real-world practice, and it supports innovative companies focused on technology to strengthen online defenses.

The state-of-the-art center spans 332,000 square feet in two adjacent buildings located on the Nathan Deal Campus for Innovation. Groundbreaking on the first of the two buildings, the Hull McKnight Building, took place on June 19, 2017, and the building opened on time and within budget on July 10, 2018. It is named in honor of James M. Hull and William D. McKnight, prominent business and community leaders in Augusta.

Groundbreaking for the second building, the Shaffer MacCartney Building, took place on January 3, 2018, and it is scheduled to open on January 10, 2019. It is named in honor of Michael Shaffer, Augusta University's executive vice president of strategic partnerships and economic development, and Teresa MacCartney, director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget. Both have had central roles in establishing the Cyber Center. The campus also includes a multi-level parking deck funded by the city of Augusta.

The center represents a unique public/private partnership that includes Augusta University, Augusta Technical College, the University System of Georgia’s research institutions, the city of Augusta, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia Department of Defense, GTA, and other state, federal, and private-sector partners. It houses Augusta University’s School of Computer and Cyber Sciences and Cyber Institute. Augusta’s growing cybersecurity sector is home to the U.S. Army Cyber Command and Cyber School of Excellence at Fort Gordon.

The center is linked to certificate programs as well as undergraduate- and graduate-level programs in cybersecurity and cyber sciences. Offerings include both on-site and virtual courses. The Georgia Cyber Workforce Academy is housed at the center and offers training for state and local government information security professionals. The center includes demonstration space to highlight cyber research activities under way across Georgia’s university system, including basic and applied research activities at Augusta University.

A key component of the Cyber Center is the Georgia Cyber Range. The range is a heterogeneous computing environment used to practice incident response, conduct penetration testing, fuzz binaries across multiple processor architectures, and more. It provides tools that help strengthen the stability, security, and performance of cyber infrastructures and IT systems. It is available to students, industry, and government professionals in education and training, product development, offensive activity and competition, detection and defensive competition, response and recovery, and evaluation and benchmarking.

The center houses the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s new cybercrime unit, and law enforcement professionals throughout the state are able to take advantage of the GBI’s expertise in digital forensics.

The center provides incubation and accelerator programs through theClubhou.se, an Augusta-based non-profit, to support cybersecurity innovation and entrepreneurship.

Build-to-suit Class A space is available for lease to industry-related companies. In addition, a 340-seat auditorium is available for STEM-related events in line with the center’s mission.

Learn more about the Cyber Center at www.cybercenter.georgia.gov.

The GTA Cyber Workforce Academy continued to move ahead in promoting cybersecurity awareness in FY 2018. The academy graduated its first class on May 22, 2018. The class was comprised of information security officers and other cybersecurity professionals from state agencies, and they received their official State Certificate of Completion during a ceremony at the Georgia Technology Authority.

The attendees successfully completed 11 courses:

• Introduction and Basic Cybersecurity
• Roles and Responsibilities of an Information Security Officer in the Public Sector
• Building a Cybersecurity Program in the Public Sector
• Cybersecurity and IT Strategic Planning
• Cybersecurity Policy Management
• Cyber Incident Management
• IT and Information Security Risk Management
• Security Awareness, Training, Education, and Professional Development
• Continuity of Operations Planning Cyber Resilience
• IT and Cybersecurity Leadership
• Cybersecurity Maturity – Program

The Cyber Workforce Academy teamed up with the Georgia Cyber Center Academy in offering Certified Information Systems Security Officer training November 5-9, 2018.

GTA’s academy is updating the courses listed above for FY 2019 and adding hands-on workshops to reinforce learning. An Introduction to Cyber Attack and Defense course will also be held.

The Statewide Cybersecurity Review Board’s Working Group oversees cybersecurity assessments of state agencies that operate critical information systems or handle federally regulated data. The assessments are conducted by an independent, trusted third party in accordance with the cybersecurity framework established by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and other recognized risk-focused assessment frameworks. A total of seven state agencies underwent a cybersecurity assessment in FY 2018. The assessments yielded a security assessment report, a gap analysis, a plan of action and milestones report, and a risk assessment report.