Capitol Students Qualify for Regional Finals of Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition

January 26, 2011

Yesterday, Capitol students competed for the first time in the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) regional qualifier in the Cyber Battle Lab (CBL), and qualified for the eight team regional finals at The Johns Hopkins University on March 10-12.

In the qualifier match, Capitol's score was compared to the scores of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and Catawba Valley Community College, both located in North Carolina. By recording the lowest score, Capitol's team qualified for the much anticipated eight team regional finals. A total of 22 teams competed in the qualifier round.

Using knowledge and experience gained from information assurance classes at Capitol, students are given the task of defending five computers in an office environment from a series of hacker attacks. Those students participating spent months preparing and researching various tactics and defenses used to shield real-time network attacks.

This is the sixth year that the Mid-Atlantic CCDC has been held, and the competition offered Capitol students an excellent chance to put their education in information assurance to good use. The Bachelor of Science degree at Capitol College prepares students for careers in cyber defense and teaches them the tactics and strategies used in the workplace.

“We were competing in a complete business environment and remotely connected to the computers being attacked,” sophomore Marc Fruchtbaum said. “We were able to protect that environment from malicious entities.”

The critical thinking skills of those competing were tested during the event, and the hands-on experience provided by Capitol was also a key for students. In the Cyber Battle Lab, students detect, analyze and defeat simulated hacker attacks, and the CBL is one of the foremost programs for information assurance education in Maryland.

“I want to work for the NSA after Capitol and the competition gave me real-world experience against the kind of attacks seen everyday in that industry,” junior Danielle Freebourne said.

Capitol College is a DHS/NSA nationally designated Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education. The institution offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in information assurance.

Representing Capitol in the CCDC were students Andrew Dorsey, Alex Eakle, Danielle Freebourne, Marc Fruchtbaum, Jeremy Hedges, Reza Nadjmabadi, Tuan Pho and Sam Plant.