Information Security News: Texas A&M Wins 2007 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition

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Texas A&M Wins 2007 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition
SAN ANTONIO, TX UNITED STATES 04/24/2007
            
SAN ANTONIO, April 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Texas A&M University 
and Millersville University of Pennsylvania took first and second place 
honors in the 2nd annual National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition 
(CCDC) held April 13-15 at the Airport Hilton Hotel in San Antonio. The 
winning team will receive an invitation from the Department of Homeland 
Security (DHS) to attend the March 2008 Cyber Storm II National Cyber 
Security Exercise in Washington, D.C.
    
"It was a great experience that was very professionally done," said 
Rusty Redden, Texas A&M team captain. "We felt good going into the final 
day of competition and were able to lock it down on Sunday."
    
The competition, hosted by the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and 
Security (CIAS) at The University of Texas at San Antonio, a nationally 
recognized leader in cyber security education and research, featured 
four teams of graduate and undergraduate students that were scored on 
their ability to operate and maintain a business network while under 
hostile cyber attack.
    
Closing ceremony highlights included an awards presentation and keynote 
address from Cheri McGuire, deputy director of the Department of 
Homeland Security's National Cyber Security Division. McGuire stressed 
the importance of universities educating the next generation of cyber 
security professionals to help defend the nation's critical network 
assets. She also noted that competitions such as CCDC give students a 
level of realism and a hands-on experience that complements their formal 
classroom education.
    
The CCDC program has grown from five participating schools in 2005 to 44 
schools in 2007 and anticipates adding three regional competitions and 
another 30 participating schools in 2008. The 2007 national competition 
featured the nation's top collegiate cyber defense teams representing 
Texas A&M University, University of Louisville, Millersville University 
of Pennsylvania and Indiana Tech.
    
The participants advanced to the National CCDC after winning state and 
regional competitions against 44 opposing teams in the Southwest, 
Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast Regions.
    
The CCDC program is the first cyber defense competition allowing teams 
of full-time collegiate students from across the country to apply their 
information assurance and information technology educations in a 
competitive environment. While similar to other cyber defense 
competitions, NCCDC competitions are unique because they focus on 
business operations and incorporate the operational aspect of managing 
and protecting an existing network infrastructure. The teams inherit an 
"operational" network from a fictitious business complete with e-mail, 
web sites, data files, and users.
    
The National CCDC was sponsored in part through donations and volunteer
support from the Department of Homeland Security (http://www.dhs.gov),
Cisco Systems (http://www.cisco.com), Symantec Corporation
(http://www.symantec.com), Northrop Grumman
(http://www.northropgrumman.com), TippingPoint
(http://www.tippingpoint.com), Acronis (http://www.acronis.com), the
International Board and local Alamo Chapter of the Information Systems
Security Association (http://www.issa.org), Coretrace
(http://www.coretrace.com), Core Security (http://www.coresecurity.com),
SecureLogix Corporation (http://www.securelogix.com), Rackspace
(http://www.rackspace.com), O'Reilly Media (http://www.oreilly.com),
Prentice Hall (http://www.prenticehall.com), ThinkGeek
(http://www.thinkgeek.com), Information Security Magazine
(http://informationsecurity.techtarget.com), Code Magazine
(http://www.code-magazine.com), Pepsi (http://www.pepsi.com), and 
R&L Foods (http://www.randlfoods.com).
    
For more information please visit http://www.nationalccdc.org or
contact the CIAS at 210-458-2118 or via email at info () nationalccdc org 

SOURCE University of Texas at San Antonio


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