The INSuRE program is a collaboration between government agencies, national labs, FFRDCs, and CAE institutions to provide students with an opportunity to work on real-world applied research problems. INSuRE aims to improve the workforce readiness of participating students by building skills in applied cybersecurity research, teamwork, communication, problem solving, and project management.

INSuRE provides CAE institutions with a means to offer opportunities to their students on research methods working on real-world problems in a way that otherwise may not exist at their institutions. In turn, the government agencies, national labs, and FFRDCs can work with students who are excited and eager to make progress on their projects. Through this engagement the agencies, national Labs and FFRDCs gain access to some of the most promising cybersecurity talents and INSuRE serves as an effective means for recruitment.

The central activity of the INSuRE program is a research course that is offered at each participating institution, linking student teams with Problem Mentors (PMs) from government agencies and laboratories to work on problems of national interest proposed by the PMs. In 2021, INSuRE was expanded to include a new track with the goal of facilitating research collaborations between government agencies and research active faculty in academia. To differentiate the two tracks, the original track is now called INSuRE+E (E for Education) and the new track is called INSuRE+C (C for Collaborative). All 4-year institutions that are National Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (NCAE) are eligible to participate in INSuRE+E while INSuRE+C is opened to NCAE in Research (CAE-R) only.