Gov. Greg Abbott signs law creating Texas Cyber Command
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott during a bill signing ceremony earlier this year. Abbott recently signed legislation creating the Texas Cyber Command. Brandon Bell via Getty Images
By
Chris Teale
The Texas governor had declared creating a cyber command an emergency item earlier this year. State officials said it will be the largest state-based cyber department in the U.S.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week signed legislation to create the Texas Cyber Command, an effort he had marked out as a priority earlier this year.
The cyber command will be based at the University of Texas at San Antonio and funded by an initial investment of $135 million. State officials said the cyber command will contain a cyber threat intelligence center to find and fix any vulnerabilities in state and local government networks and train users on cyber hygiene. It will also coordinate with governments at various levels on responding to cyberattacks and collaborate with those governments to establish what state leaders called the “gold standard for cybersecurity.”
Abbott had earmarked the establishment of the Texas Cyber Command as an emergency item during his State of the State address in early February, and bills to that effect were quickly introduced and passed in the state legislature.
The new department assumes many roles and responsibilities for cybersecurity that were previously held by the state’s Department of Information Resources, and Texas officials said it is the largest state-based cybersecurity department in the U.S.
"Our state is under constant attack by cyber criminals, attacks that occur thousands of times every single second of every single day," Abbott said in a statement. "Attacks often come from foreign actors from hostile countries like China, Russia, and Iran. They successfully attacked cities, counties, and government agencies in Texas, from Mission to Muleshoe. That changes today.”
The cyber command will be located in San Antonio to partner with various other agencies that are cybersecurity leaders. That includes the Sixteenth Air Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Southwest Texas Fusion Center.
UTSA President Taylor Eighmy said during a bill signing ceremony on campus that the “very epicenter of excellence related to cybersecurity is here,” in San Antonio, making it a “perfect host for the Texas Cyber Command.”
State officials said previously that establishing the Texas Cyber Command will help the state better protect itself against cyber threats while freeing up its other technology staff to focus on different things, including DIR’s primary mission as a purchasing authority.
Joshua Kuntz, chief information security officer at the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, said during the Nextgov/FCW and Route Fifty Cyber Summit last month that the separation means “a lot more legitimacy and trust in those processes.”
Collaboration with higher education is key, too. UT’s San Antonio campus already offers one of the state’s best cybersecurity qualifications, while Angelo State University is among those to provide regional cyber support for its local governments, utilities and others through a security operations center.
Kuntz said previously that the cyber command can mean more employment opportunities for students and synergy between the various levels of government. That need for coordination came into focus in recent years after attacks hit cities like Abilene and Mission, while Dallas also faced a cyberattack two years ago.
“It's an interesting concept as a different type of entity,” Kuntz said at the time. “It's not necessarily a state agency, but it's not necessarily an institute of higher education program. It's this in-between layer.”
Abbott said in his statement that the initiative will put Texas “on the path to be a national leader in cybersecurity."