Governor Nathan Deal will be in Augusta Monday to officially break ground on the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center, one of his biggest priorities of the past few years. The center, which received $50 million in state funding to get off the ground, will serve as ground zero for academic experts, private companies, and government workers to compare notes and establish cybersecurity standards and protocol for the state.
Cybersecurity has stepped into the spotlight in recent years, most notably following the Russian hacking scandal during the 2016 Presidential elections. Here in Georgia it has also been a major issue, with Georgia voter records hosted at Kennesaw State University suffering a hack that may have resulted in the leak of voting records of over 6.7 million Georgians. A report from researcher Logan Lamb earlier this week revealed vulnerabilities that could have allowed hackers to penetrate the site and even install malware on the computers of county election officials, giving hackers a possible backdoor into election offices across the state.
The Cyber Innovation and Training Center then comes at a perfect time, as hackers grow more bold and outdated elections systems present themselves as an easy target. Constructed on Augusta University’s Riverfront Campus, the 150,000 square foot facility will host a range of experts from both public and private sectors. The center will not only be key for protecting Georgia’s public resources, but will also interface directly with military operations including the U.S. Army Cyber Command, the US Army Cyber Center of Excellence and the National Security Agency at nearby Fort Gordon.
Another side of the endeavor is that Deal and his team are looking once again to put Georgia at the forefront of another exploding industry. By constructing a world class facility that will be connected with top figures in the field, the state will have a leg up on an industry that is expected to create hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide in coming years.
Some scoffed at the $50 million price tag when the Cyber Center was first announced, but looking at all Georgia has to gain from its construction it’s clear that Deal has come up with another win for Peach State citizens.
