The Center for Strategic Information Technology and Security is hosting the second Minnesota and Wisconsin Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition at Inver Hills Community College on Februrary 9-10, 2008.
What are the Goals of the Competition?
The Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition allows institutions of higher education which offer an information assurance or computer security curriculum to assess their students' depth of understanding and operational competency in managing the challenges inherent in protecting an enterprise network infrastructure and business information systems.
The competition features a controlled competitive environment that can:
- Provide a meaningful mechanism for institutions to evaluate their programs.
- Gives students an opportunity to apply the theory and skills they have learned in their course work.
- Foster a spirit of teamwork, ethical behavior, and effective communication both within and across teams.
- Open a dialog and awareness among participating institutions, students, and sponsoring organizations.
- Lets participants have fun!
What Does the Competition Involve?
This competition builds on the experience of the first Southwest Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition hosted by the University of Texas at San Antonio in the spring of 2005. Unlike many cyber security competitions, this exercise concentrates on defense. The teams are not allowed to take the offensive. Instead, a professional red team will be performing attacks.
The
competition will include five teams consisting of eight students each
from numerous Minnesota and Wisconsin community/technical colleges. Each team will be given
identical computer configurations at the start of the competition.
Throughout the competition, the teams must ensure the systems supply
the specified services, while under attack from the red team. In
addition, the teams will have to satisfy periodic "injects" that
simulate business activities IT staff must deal with in the real world.
Team package and competition rules will be available January 15, 2008.
What Happens to the Winning Team?
The winning team will be invited to participate in the Midwest Region Collegiate Cyber Defense Exercise hosted at Washtenau Community college in Ann Arbor, Michigan on March 21-22, 2008.
How Can I Get Involved?
Invited teams are required to meet the following qualifications:
- All members must be active students at the team school.
- The school should offer courses that teach the principles outlined in the CNSS standards.
- The sponsoring school must be located in Minnesota or Wisconsin.
We are also looking for people and organizations to become involved as sponsors, judges, and general support staff. If you would like to get involved, please contact us.