CIS Launches Fourth Year of Alan Paller Laureate Program to Support Cybersecurity Innovations

Alan Paller 1945-2021

Up to $250,000 in grants available for projects that simplify security, build workforce skills, and advance cyber education

EAST GREENBUSH, NY, UNITED STATES, February 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Center for Internet Security, Inc. (CIS^®) today announced the launch of the fourth year of the Alan Paller Laureate Program, continuing its mission to honor the legacy of Alan Paller, a visionary leader in cybersecurity and co-founder of CIS and the SANS Institute. The program offers grants of up to $250,000 to U.S.-based nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and individuals working on practical, measurable innovations that strengthen cyber defense.

The Laureate Program reflects Paller’s lifelong commitment to advancing cybersecurity by seeking people and projects that make security controls easier to implement, expand the pipeline of skilled cyber professionals, and improve the teaching of cyber defense at all levels.

“Alan saw early, the need for highly qualified, highly technical people to really engage in the cyber fight,” said Tony Sager, CIS’s Senior Vice President and Chief Evangelist. “His gift was to find good people doing good things, connect them with others and give them the resources to turn them into great people doing great things.”

Last year’s recipient, Purdue University’s Cyber Technical Assistance Program (cyberTAP), used the grant to deliver tailored cybersecurity services to rural electric cooperatives and underserved infrastructure providers. “This funding empowers us to develop and deliver targeted cybersecurity services that strengthen America’s energy grid,” said George Bailey, Director of Purdue cyberTAP.

Applications for the 2026 grant cycle will be accepted until March 31, 2026. Finalists will be selected in the spring, and grant recipients will be announced in June. Full eligibility criteria and application details are available on the Alan Paller Laureate Program page at cisecurity.org. Media inquiries can be directed to media@cisecurity.org.

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About CIS:
The Center for Internet Security, Inc. (CIS^®) makes the connected world a safer place for people, businesses, and governments through our core competencies of collaboration and innovation. We are a community-driven nonprofit, responsible for the CIS Critical Security Controls^® and CIS Benchmarks^®, globally recognized best practices for securing IT systems and data. We lead a global community of IT professionals to continuously refine these standards to proactively safeguard against emerging threats. Our CIS Hardened Images^® provide secure, on-demand, scalable computing environments in the cloud. CIS is home to the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center^® (MS-ISAC^®), the trusted resource for cyber threat prevention, protection, response, and recovery for U.S. State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) government entities. To learn more, visit CISecurity.org or follow us on X: @CISecurity.

Kelly Wyland
Center for Internet Security
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