By Jon Karroll

j.karroll@krdo.com

COLORADO SPRINGS - A local university is on the front lines of a new kind of war... a war being waged with bits and bytes.

The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs is home to the National Institute of Science, Space and Security Centers (NISSSC) where they're doing cutting edge research on how to prevent cyber attacks.

Just this week widespread cyber attacks targeted government agencies in the U.S., including the White House and the State Department... along with web sites in South Korea. North Korea is believed to be behind the attacks.

With 19-faculty members and new high-powered computer servers dedicated solely to research, UCCS is poised to become a national leader in cyber security.  "We are doing both offensive and defensive kinds of basic and applied research and hands-on training and education here at UCCS to help us understand the cyber challenges and to be one step ahead of the enemy" says Mike Perini, Executive Director of the NISSSC.