Surrounded by UT San Antonio President Taylor Eighmy and elected officials, including State Senators Tan Parker and Giovanni Capriglione, Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 150, establishing the Texas Cyber Command in San Antonio. The law is designed to thwart foreign cyber attacks using the resources of San Antonio and UT San Antonio.
On Feb. 2, Abbott announced the Cyber Command Center as an emergency item for the legislative session.
“A problem that’s on the rise dramatically in the State of Texas, and candidly, across the country, and that is the number of cyber attacks,” Abbott stated. “We can not let any more time go by without strongly, robustly addressing this problem. And, that is why I am calling for an emergency item to create the Texas Cyber Command.”
The initiative will invest $135 million to establish the Texas Cyber Command in downtown San Antonio. The headquarters will be tasked with identifying and repairing weaknesses in government systems, coordinating governments to swiftly respond to cyber threats and training users about preventing cyber crimes. It is set to be the largest state-based cybersecurity department in the U.S.
As the country continues to expand its internet use and dependency, the prevalence of internet crimes has also grown. In 2024, there were 859,532 suspected cybercrime complaints nationwide, amassing more than $16 billion in losses, a 33% increase from 2023 and a 400% increase from 2020. Average losses were $19,372; victims included private individuals, companies and every level of government.
Texas ranked second for the most cyber complaints at 62,347 and losses at $1,351,598,183 in 2024.
During the signing ceremony, Abbot emphasized San Antonio’s importance in the Texas Cyber Command’s success.
“There could be no more fitting a location with a combination of all these assets fighting one of the most vicious and constant crimes we deal with every single day,” Abbott said. “Working together, [San Antonio] will put Texas on a path to be a national leader in cybersecurity.”
A large part of the plan includes UT San Antonio. Currently, there are over 5,400 UT San Antonio students with AI, cybersecurity, data science and related degrees and over 1,000 graduates last year. Moreover, on Sept. 1, UT San Antonio launched its new College of AI, Cyber and Computing; the university is constructing a second building for the college called San Pedro II.
On UT San Antonio Today, Eighmy gave his opinion on the cyber command.
“It’s very fair to say that outside of Washington, D.C., the very epicenter of excellence related to cybersecurity is here, and it’s a perfect host for the Texas Cyber Command,” Eighmy said. “Governor, we are excited to collaborate with you to bring the Command into existence to serve the needs of our great state of Texas.”
Details on how active and graduated students will inevitably play a part in the Cyber Command have yet to be fully specified. To stay involved, readers can stay up to date on paisano-online.com.
