AU is one of only three universities to be selected among the 50 organizations for the 2025 CSO50 Award. What’s more is the company it keeps amongst national firms.
Augusta University (AU) has received an award recognizing it is at the forefront of innovation and leadership in cybersecurity.
“This recognition is a powerful testament to the relentless mindset of our IT and Cyber Defense teams who are committed to safeguarding Augusta University, our region, and the state of Georgia,” said Augusta University President Russell Keen in the news release announcing the award.
AU’s Security Operation Center (SOC), officially known as SIEGE Cyberops, joins the ranks of Aflac, Intel Corporation, Mastercard, Principal Financial Group, and TIAA selected for the 2025 award. Presented by Computer Security Online, a division of Foundry, which focuses on providing decision makers and users with critical information about evolving threats to help defend against criminal cyberattacks.
“It is kind of like the Oscars for cybersecurity,” Tiffany Mack, Director of Cybersecurity Solutions, told ABD. “It honors 50 organizations every year for their outstanding security projects or initiatives. It demonstrates exceptional business value or leadership in security, how security efforts can be innovative, resilient, or give businesses strategic advantages.”
It also garners national attention for AU as an institution of higher education to attract students to Augusta to grow the next generation of cyber professionals while supporting the workforce pipeline.
“That’s something that I think is appealing for students to know that the cyber program is so close,” Mack said. “The student assistants come in, and they actually are on keyboards doing analyst work or doing cybersecurity engineering work. They’re actually dealing with live data. It’s not any kind of simulated environment. We’re actually letting them engage in the live things that we have going on.”
AU’s project was “Born from Necessity: A Unique Approach to Solving Resource Challenges” and was the result of post-COVID budget constraints. Mack said the Security Operations Center, located in the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center, partnered with academia, private industry, and government to develop solutions.
“We increased student assistant funding through the Student Technology fees that AU collects. We used some of that money to increase by 46% the additional students’ opportunity to serve one-year tours in the SOC so they gain experience in governance, risk, and compliance,” Mack explained.
For private industry, they partnered with SofTact Solutions, a woman-owned small business that provides cybersecurity and IT solutions. It was recently presented with the 2025 Patriot Award by the Columbia County Patriot Award. The company has federal grants that provide opportunities in both IT and cybersecurity for student professionals.
The government component came from partnerships with groups at Fort Gordon, including the Department of Defense’s SkillBridge program. It is the Career Skills Program for military in the last six months of their military service.
“All combined, these three avenues for internships increased our resources by more than 300%,” said Mack.
She added they added a non-paid student internship course to augment its paid internships.
“It’s a force multiplier for us. It increases our security posture for the university and the health system. It also helped reduce cyber workforce shortages for those students. Experienced graduate students were coming out, and experienced SkillBridge participants were coming out of this effort into the workforce for cyber for Georgia,” she said.
Representatives from the White House and National Security Agency have toured the SOC to see its success firsthand. Delegations from other universities and private sector companies have also visited the center.
