Department of Information Technology to host Cyber Security Challenge

In March and April, Radford University's Department of Information Technology will host a Cyber Security Challenge for high school students.

These contests will challenge students in a wide variety of topic areas, including anatomy of an attack, an introduction to networking, cryptography, forensics, web security and Windows/Linux security.

The qualifying round provides an opportunity for students to test their mettle against their peers and continue to hone their skills. Earning their way to the on-campus finals should provide an experience they will never forget as they learn to construct a network and then defend it from expert penetration testers.

The first portion of the contest was held in fall 2016 as an introduction to the program. The qualifying round and finals will be held during spring semester with the following breakdown:

• Online qualifying round: March 18-April 1: This will be a virtual contest with no hints and no additional educational materials will be provided. The top seven teams from this event will be invited to campus for the finals, and all of the members of these teams will receive a Raspberry Pi Kit (courtesy of a grant from the National Security Agency).
• On-campus finals: April 29: A one-day, on-campus event. Part of this contest will include teams bringing their Raspberry Pie Kits, creating an Internet of Things and defending their network.

Contest co-directors are Joe Chase and Prem Uppaluri.