Using a grant worth $1 million, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock prepares for potential cyberattacks

Little Rock, Arkansas – As a result of a grant worth one million dollars awarded by the United States Department of Energy, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will soon be in a stronger position to assist in the fight against cyberattacks.

Students will be able to increase the scope of their research into cyberattacks against energy systems thanks to the grant.

According to a spokesman from one of the universities, ten students from the University of Arkansas and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will collaborate with members of the Emerging Threat Center at the Forge Institute in Little Rock to assist Arkansas businesses in defending themselves against cyberattacks.

Officials in the energy industry have stated that cyberattacks are a problem that affects both the local and national levels. Lee Watson, CEO and Chairman of the Forge Institute provided some background on the purpose of the study.

According to Watson, “this research is giving us new capabilities to improve the intelligence sharing process,” which is something that “we think is key to getting ahead of what the adversaries are doing,”

Philip Huff, an associate professor of cybersecurity at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, gave a talk about the new opportunities that the award presents for the field of cybersecurity education.

“We are able to expand the workforce potential in the field of cybersecurity by bringing the community together. According to Huff, almost all of the one million dollars will be used to provide opportunities for students, conduct research, and collaborate with utility companies in the state of Arkansas.

Officials at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock have stated that the institution has plans to expand its online cybersecurity education and training platform, which is known as the Cyber Arena, in order to provide a learning environment in which members of the community can access research data whenever they want.

Because of this, the center and the community will have the capacity to engage in open dialogue in an effort to identify potential cybersecurity concerns.