Path to cyber preeminence is challenging but conceivable

There’s no doubt the information security industry is strengthening the regional economy, infusing techie trendiness into the Southern culture and making downtown Augusta a hipper place work.

But can it transform the Savannah River region into cyber’s “Silicon Valley”?

Augusta’s inclusion last year in a Fortune magazine story as a “dark horse” in the running for “World Cybersecurity Capital” was based largely on the Pentagon’s ongoing relocation of Army Cyber Command to Fort Gordon and Georgia’s then-$60 million (now $100 million) investment in a multi-use cyber facility at Augusta University’s Riverfront Campus.