CHAPTER NEWS: 2013 Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition Announces Its Winners
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College and high school students descended on The Citadel April
13-14 for the inaugural Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition, sponsored by the
Palmetto Roost Chapter of the Association of Old Crows in collaboration with
Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center (SSC) Atlantic. Chief of Staff
of Air Forces Cyber, Col. Robert A. Morris, was keynote speaker for the event.
"The goal of the competition was to energize the schools and their students to focus on the development of technical skills in the area of networking and cyber security in preparation for exciting careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)," says to Rich Nelson, president of the Palmetto Roost Chapter of the Association of Old Crows.
The collegiate competition was held Saturday, April 13, between teams from Charleston Southern University, Clemson, College of Charleston, ECPI University, The Citadel and Trident Technical College. The high school competition was held Sunday, April 14, between teams from Ashley Ridge, Military Magnet, Stall, Stratford, Summerville, Wando and West Ashley high schools.
Teams of six students each operated small networks that they were responsible for protecting from SSC Atlantic cybersecurity experts. They were scored for completing administrative and business tasks while maintaining network availability, configuring, and protecting their network against threats.
Results from the collegiate competition:
- Clemson, 1st Place
- The Citadel, 2nd Place
- College of Charleston, 3rd Place
Results from the high school competition:
- Wando, 1st Place
- Summerville, 2nd Place
- Stall, 3rd Place
Mentors from SSC Atlantic and various industry partners have been visiting local high schools during the last few months to help prepare students on the cyber teams for the competition, according to Jeff Sweeney, who is a supervisor in IA Policy and Risk Management at SSC Atlantic, and served as director of the Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition.
All of the teams performed very well as was noticed by Colonel Morris who said "The Palmetto Cyber Defense Challenge was a fantastic event; all of the competitors showed great cyber skills, intuition and most importantly – team work! It was great to see all of the Team members' enthusiasm and spirit as they secured and defended their networks against a great Red Team all day." Others have noticed as well as companies have already expressed interest in talking with the students about employment opportunities as a result.
SSC Atlantic, the Palmetto Roost of the Association of Old Crows, the Army National Guard, Navy Reserves and several area companies provided more than 60 volunteers to staff the events. Plans are already underway for next year’s event.
