In 2001, Alan Sherman created the UMBC Center for Information Security and Assurance (CISA), UMBC’s original and ongoing cybersecurity center, which is responsible for UMBC gaining recognition from NSA and DHS as a national center of academic excellence in cyber defense education and research (CAE, CAE-R).

It has a threefold mission to promote cybersecurity research, education, and best practices. It fosters collaborations with local area businesses, laboratories, and government agencies and promotes interdepartmental interaction among departments and offices. Projects include, but are not restricted to, secure voting, trustworthy computing, cryptology, network security, security of cloud computing, security education, protocol analysis, and digital forensics.

CISA includes the UMBC Cyber Defense Lab (CDL), which is pursuing a variety of research projects, including protocol analysis (funded by NSA) and cybersecurity educational assessments (funded by NSF). CDL meets biweekly at which members and guests present on-going research projects.