Computer scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are tasked with protecting data from some of the nation's most prolific science research programs, and they've just gotten a financial boost to bolster their efforts.

The National Science Foundation funds more than $7 billion worth of research and their data is stored in powerful supercomputers. UW computer scientists are part of collaboration called the Center for Trustworthy Scientific Cyberinfrastructure that just received $5 million from the NSF to protect those computers from hackers and spies.

"The bad guys vary from people who are doing it for money or all your favorite terrorist groups," said Bart Miller, a UW computer science professor who works for the CTSC.

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Miller said the university has become a national cybersecurity resource center with millions of dollars in investment coming from organizations like the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Homeland Security.

"Security is an interesting problem because nobody wants to pay for it and nobody believes they need it until they need it," he said.

That need for cybersecurity is only expected to grow, Miller said, as Internet users continue to put more and more information online.