“The industry people in Missoula are helping us finance the lab where these students will work,” said Brown. “The business community is asking for people who have more training in this area. They need them, and we already have the faculty capable of offering this.”

The issue of cyber security took center stage in November when a group of data-minded business leaders from Missoula sat with David Hamon to discuss building an industry around Internet security.

Hamon, director of Banyan Analytics at Analytic Services Inc., based in Virginia, said future crimes and warfare will be waged over computers, conducting attacks on financial systems and vital infrastructure, such as power grids and U.S. businesses.

“This isn’t like the old days where a guy with a mask over his head and a gun came looking to rob you,” Hamon said. “This is all done with a computer. The actors of this, whether they work for the (People’s Liberation Army) or they’re anarchists or criminals, it’s a finger and a button, and businesses have to take more responsibility for themselves to deter it.”

Brown said all the pieces of placing UM at the forefront of big data and cyber information are falling into place.