The School of Information Technology hosted the Central Illinois High School Cyber Defense Competition on April 10.
The School of Information Technology hosted the 4th annual Central Illinois High School Cyber Defense Competition (CIHSCDC) at Illinois State University on April 10.
The Central Illinois High School Cyber Defense Competition is an opportunity for schools in and around Central Illinois to compete in cyber defense. Each team is assigned a small network of computers and competes on their ability to defend their computers and network against hacking attacks from a “red team” consisting of information security professionals. Teams are scored on their ability to keep critical programs and services running and their ability to deal with attacks.
Participating schools fielded a total of eight teams for the 2015 competition:
- Central Catholic High School, Bloomington – (2014 champion)
- Lutheran Schools Association, Decatur (two teams)
- Monticello High School, Monticello
- Normal Community High School, Normal (three teams)
- University High School, Normal
Normal Community High School (NCHS) students shined in this year’s competition, with the three NCHS teams capturing 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards. Team members received cash awards of $225 each for 1st, $150 each for 2nd and $75 each for 3rd.
The red team (the attackers) was comprised of students from Illinois State, professional penetration testers from State Farm, and led by “Belt,” a professional penetration tester from a financial services firm in the Chicago area. Student members of the red team were Michael Kirby, Jonathon Gidey and Joey Spero. Each student member of the red team will receive a $500 scholarship.
The 2015 High School Cyber Defense Competition was organized and run by School of Information Technology professors Doug Twitchell and Glen Sanders, along with Adam Ringwood, a School of Information Technology student majoring in computer science.
Learn more about the Central Illinois High School Cyber Defense Competition.
