By Marco Luna, Mesquite Intern
This weekend, hackers will test the cyber smarts of area students when they attempt to look for vulnerable “open doors” to break into the competing teams’ services, including email servers or e-commerce websites.
The students, in a race against time, will do their best to secure and defend their teams’ technical systems. Judges will rank students in the southwest region on their ability to defend a pseudo business from hack attempts. The hacks will be attempted by high caliber hackers invited to serve as the “red team.”
Texas A&M-San Antonio will host students from nine universities during the Southwest Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (SWCCDC) in collaboration with San Antonio College and St. Phillip’s College. The two-day event will be held March 9-10 at Brooks City-Base Campus, 2601 Louis Bauer Drive.
“This is the biggest cyber competition in the region,” Zach Havins, Cyber Security Athenaeum club president, said.
Havins said this is the first year the regional competition will be hosted by A&M-San Antonio. Previous regional competitions were hosted by A&M-College Station. Sponsors include USAA, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Valero Energy Corporation.
Cyber Security Athenaeum club has competed in 13 cyber competitions in the past year and a half, beating out the University of Texas at San Antonio in each competition.
Havins and other team members earned first place honors Jan. 25 at the Southwest Collegiate Cyber Defense Virtual Qualifier competition.
Havins, who will serve as this weekend’s team competition leader confirmed Tuesday his team is ready for this weekend’s challenge.
“We are the only team from San Antonio remaining who has advanced to the regionals,” he said. Five San Antonio schools competed in the virtual qualifier.
Havins says it’s stressful dealing with hackers, but the competition is rewarding.
“It’s a really good learning environment for the students,” he said. “It motivates them to learn in their field and how to defend against professional hackers. Everyone on my team finds it fun and educational. We do build a lot of other skills, including team building skills.”
The competition will include a job fair, Havins said, and employers will be on-site, scouting for valuable talent.
“Employers definitely look at hiring people who are learning how to defend their networks against these hackers,” he continued.
For more information, contact Mark Huson, assistant professor of computer information systems at mlhuson@tamusa.tamus.edu or at 210-784-2313, or Zach Havins, Zachary.Havins@jaguar.tamu.edu
Jacob Beltran contributed to this report. Look for full competition coverage and results in The Mesquite following Spring Break.
