Active Clinic
University of Texas at Austin
The UT Austin Applied Cybersecurity Community Clinic is the fruit of discussions with the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Cybersecurity Advisory Board, the City of Austin, and UT’s Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law, all of which were interested in providing students with hands-on cybersecurity experience while also providing pro bono services to community organizations and small businesses that cannot afford such services on their own.
During the clinic's first semester course, students learn key cybersecurity defense concepts and skills, including vulnerability assessment, network configuration and security, access controls, authorization techniques, responding to a cyberattack, and penetration testing, as well as associated skills required to implement these abilities effectively in a real business or non-profit institutional setting. Students then deploy these skills—under supervision—in a real world setting in the second semester course, gaining invaluable practical experience. The clients, for their part, get the benefit of a substantially improved defensive posture.