Political Science department. The focus of
the top are asking about the security of their networks and whether there are
the program is to produce specialists capable
safeguards in place,” said Murphy.
of analyzing and communicating security
issues to policymakers, the general public, the
Forward-thinking companies like Raytheon and ReliaQuest are just two of
government and academia. The program was
the thousands of tech firms in the Corridor that are advancing cybersecurity
also critical in winning a grant from the Defense
research and practices. Those efforts are furthered by the presence of major
Intelligence Agency to start an Intelligence
assets in the region like the United States Central Command headquartered at
Community Center for Academic Excellence.
MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, the financial services industry in the Bay Area
UCF joins only 25 other universities around
and the three Corridor universities.
the country (including USF) that have been
selected to house this center, expanding the
university’s existing roster of intelligence and
national security courses and offering greater
connection to the national security community.
“The brain trust and wealth of talent in Florida in general is
driving this industry forward,” said Murphy.
are going to change as technology changes, but we’ll be ready
for them.”
What is also important is that concerns about
cybersecurity permeate an organization’s entire
culture. In working with his clients in Tampa,
ReliaQuest’s Murphy has seen an increase in
overall awareness. “Now it’s not only the IT
departments that are thinking about securing
their systems, but CEOs and executives at
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“Cyber threats