{"id":88107,"date":"2021-10-04T08:56:50","date_gmt":"2021-10-04T15:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/cstem\/?post_type=stories&#038;p=88107"},"modified":"2026-03-26T09:02:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T16:02:24","slug":"eastern-named-cyber-defense-center","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/cstem\/news\/eastern-named-cyber-defense-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Eastern Named Cyber Defense Center"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>*Editor\u2019s Note: Assistant Professor Steiner discussed this designation and how EWU is training students on\u00a0KHQ\u2019s \u201cThe 6:30\u201d on Wednesday, Oct. 13 2021.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency (NSA) have designated Eastern Washington University as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (NCAE-C).<\/p>\n<p>Eastern is the only four-year institution on the east side of the state of Washington to earn this classification. It means EWU will be a validated cyber defense program of study through 2026.<\/p>\n<p>In recognizing EWU\u2019s program, NSA cited the university\u2019s ability to meet the increasing demands of this growing field, one that serves the nation by contributing to the protection of the National Information Infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>As part of its cyber defense initiative, Eastern\u2019s computer science program has created regional partnerships to assess and secure critical infrastructure and provide real-time monitoring for regional municipalities. For example, through its work with the\u00a0<strong>PISCES Project<\/strong>, EWU students blocked Russian hackers from infiltrating the city of Spokane Valley\u2019s computer network. Students studying cyber defense have also worked with Washington\u2019s Office of the Secretary of State to ensure election security.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-39427\" src=\"https:\/\/in.ewu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/sSteiner11.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"120\" height=\"160\" \/><figcaption>Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Stu Steiner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cEarning this federal recognition demonstrates how EWU is leading the region in developing cybersecurity professionals to help protect the critical infrastructure of the nation,\u201d says Stu Steiner, assistant professor of computer science at Eastern.<\/p>\n<p>Experts say there is a critical shortage of professional with cybersecurity skills, which highlights the importance of higher education as a key player in defending America\u2019s cyberspace.<\/p>\n<p>The NSA director, General Paul M. Nakasone, will personally present the institution their award certificate at a date to be determined recognition ceremony.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read Steiner\u2019s comments in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spokesman.com\/stories\/2021\/oct\/04\/facebook-goes-offline-questions-of-how-and-why-una\/\">Spokesman about the Facebook outage<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*Editor\u2019s Note: Assistant Professor Steiner discussed this designation and how EWU is training students on\u00a0KHQ\u2019s \u201cThe 6:30\u201d on Wednesday, Oct. 13 2021. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency (NSA) have designated Eastern Washington University as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (NCAE-C). Eastern is the only four-year<a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/cstem\/news\/eastern-named-cyber-defense-center\/\">&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":3469,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-88107","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-computer-science","stories_tags-cyber"],"acf":{"display_byline":false,"subheading":"","featured_image_format":"cover","display_featured_image":true,"display_date_published":true,"featured_video":"","Links":false,"Resources":false,"page_override_title":"","page_hide_sidebar":false,"page_enable_page_nav":false,"page_persona_bar_default_tab":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/cstem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/88107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/cstem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/cstem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/cstem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/462"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/cstem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/88107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88110,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/cstem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/88107\/revisions\/88110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/cstem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/cstem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}