The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security designated Wake Tech as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education through 2025. Wake Tech becomes one of 12 colleges and universities in North Carolina with this designation.

DHS and NSA jointly created the National Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) in cyber defense and cyber operations in 1999. The goal of the program is to reduce the vulnerability of the national information infrastructure by promoting higher education and research in cyber defense and producing professionals with cyber defense expertise.