DIGITAL MATCH
Zero by Zero edges out the Cupcakes in Pitt cyber camp competition
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
On Friday morning, IT administrators Liz Petley and Mary Torrez noticed that an unauthorized user was trying to access their corporation’s network. They removed the user and continued to secure the network, configuring firewalls and removing malware, among other tasks.
The Cyber Patriot system in which they were working recorded several points.
Liz, 18, and Mary, 16, were in a computer lab in the Cathedral of Learning, participating along with their two high school teammates in a competition to secure a simulated network. Actions that fixed a vulnerability earned points, while making the network less secure lost points. Whichever team got the most points in 2½ hours won.
The competition was the culmination of Cyber Camp, a week of classes and practice on cybersecurity hosted by the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security (Pitt Cyber). The camp was part ofthe Air Force Association’s Cy ber Patriot Program, an educational initiative that runs camps around the country, as wellas a national competition that Friday’s contest mirrored.
The 186 students attending the Pitt camp had spent the week learning the basics of cybersecurity and ethics, as well as the Windows and Ubuntu operating systems.
“They're getting a really good curriculum that is pretty similar tothe kind of curriculum you would study if you were trying to becomea cybersecurity professional,” said David J. Hickton, founding director of Pitt Cyber and former U.S. attorney.
In the Cathedral of Learning computer lab, and in several other labs around campus, teams worked on virtual operating systems. On eac h system it was possible to score 100 points, which would be
combined to determine the winner. Three instructors, including Steve Mancini, manned the room, recording points, helping to fix computer issues and distributing candy.
Mr. Mancini, the chief technology officer at the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance and an adjunct professor at Pitt, said he hoped the camp also taught students what every computer user should know about cybersecurity.
“A seed is planted that says, ‘I’m thinking about security before I do something,’” Mr. Mancini said.
Liz and Mary, whose team was called the Cupcakes, worked on a Windows system, Liz sitting at the computer itself while Mary sat at another computer next to her, researching ways to solve problems. As the competition wound down to its final half-hour, they ran a threat scan.
Both said they were interested in doing something like this for a career.
“I’m really into the forensics of computers,” Mary said.
The Windows half of the Cupcakes ended the competition with 50 points. A team in another computer lab, Zero by Zero, won the overall competition.
Mr. Hickton said he hoped that through the camp, students like Liz and Mary could start to ease a shortage in cybersecurity experts.
“We have got to accelerate the development of cyberprofessionals to meet the threat,” Mr. Hickton said. “What this means for these students is if they can develop this expertise, they're going to be very employable when they graduate.”