James Jan-Feb 2024 web - Flipbook - Page 9
very hour of every day, cyber attacks target individuals, small businesses, governments,
banks, hospitals, universities and
other important institutions.
This underscores that cybersecurity is not only vital for national
security, but also crucial for maintaining the vitality of the nation’s
economic engines. The International Monetary Fund, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and the
Statista data intelligence group
forecast that the worldwide cost
of cybercrime will increase from
$6 trillion in 2021 to more than $20
trillion in 2027, while the cost within
the United States is expected to
increase from $153 billion in 2021 to
$1.27 trillion in 2027. Over the same
period, the total revenue associated
with security services and cyber
solutions is expected to increase
from $55 billion to $116 billion.
As with the human body, which
relies on an amazing array of interconnected biological mechanisms
to ward off invading pathogens,
cybersecurity efforts are most successful when they integrate complementary efforts of research, education, corporate and public-private
partnerships— all in an ecosystem
that trains and deploys a talented
workforce while continually conducting research to identify vulnerabilities and the next generation of
security solutions.
In Georgia, the most impressive
cybersecurity ecosystem can be
found in Augusta and at Augusta
University, collectively the home of
the National Security Agency Georgia
and the U.S. Army’s Cyber Command
headquarters and Cyber Center of
Excellence at Fort Eisenhower, and
the Georgia Cyber Innovation and
Training Center and the fast-growing School of Computer and Cyber
Sciences at Augusta University.
The recent White House National Cyber Workforce and Education
Strategy cites the Georgia Cyber
Center as one of the national “education and workforce development ecosystems in action,” adding that the
center is “a collaboration between
academia; federal, state and local
government; law enforcement; the
U.S. Army and the private sector,”
with the mission “to meet the growing need for cyber talent in Georgia.”
Indeed, the growing cybersecurity ecosystem in the region is poised
to keep Georgia at the forefront of
the field for decades to come.
Consider that in 2023 Augusta
University was awarded a $1 million
development grant from the National
Science Foundation’s new Regional
Innovation Engines program. This
NSF award is focused on the area
along the Savannah River, spanning
several counties in Georgia and
South Carolina. The center is in the
greater Augusta region.
The technical themes of the
effort are the related areas of cybersecurity, cyber-physical systems,
edge computing and the Internet of
Things. Augusta University is leading a coalition of partners, including
the Georgia Cyber Center, University
of Georgia, Clark Atlanta University, Augusta Technical College, U.S.
Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER),
Savannah River National Laboratory
(SRNL), Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Trideum Corporation, Bigbear.
AI, and the International Economic
Development Council.
The region is well positioned for
a future NSF Engine in this technical
area because of aligned interests
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