CSC Mentors NextGen Cyber Warriors

This was written by Michael W. Cheek on Friday, March 12, 2010, 7:33.

CSC has announced that the company will support staff and judges for the 5th Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, taking place over the next few days. The competition places college students against hackers trying to enter a network.

CSC’s cybersecurity experts will serve as judges to ensure compliance with the rules and scoring the exercises. Students will be judged on their ability to detect and defend against incoming threats while continuing to provide services (like email), carry out new business functions (adding new users) and balancing security with business needs.

“CSC is dedicated to developing cutting-edge, long-term solutions to the evolving cyber threat environment, and an important component of these efforts is the development of next generation cybersecurity curricula and workforce,” said James Menendez, vice president of CSC’s Global Security Solutions. “We know that supporting the CCDC and all of the CyberWatch activities is one important way we can help pursue these goals for ourselves and our nation.”

The following teams are competing in the competition: Towson University, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Asheville-Buncombe Technical College, Community College of Baltimore County and Millersville University.

“CSC’s active participation as an industry member of our Advisory Board is a real help to the mission of CyberWatch. As a leading provider of cybersecurity services to government and industry, CSC’s commitment to the long-term development of a viable work force and their support of academic institutions are essential to the government’s ongoing ability to protect our national security,” said Dr. Robert J. Spear, director of the CyberWatch Center, which hosts the Mid-Atlantic event.

press release

March 11, 2010, 8:00 a.m. EST · Recommend · Post:

CSC Employees Help Mentor Next Generation Cyber Experts at Fifth Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition

FALLS CHURCH, Va., Mar 11, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — CSC /quotes/comstock/13*!csc/quotes/nls/csc (CSC 53.60, +0.04, +0.07%) today announced that the company will provide judges and support staff for teams competing in the 5th Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC), March 11-13, 2010. Pitting college students against hackers trying to disrupt and compromise their networks, the competition is unique in its focus on the operational aspects of managing and protecting an existing network infrastructure. Student teams are scored on their ability to detect and respond to outside threats, maintain availability of existing services (e.g., e-mail servers), respond to business requests (e.g., add user accounts), and balance security needs against business needs.

CSC will provide cyber subject matter experts as judges for the event to ensure team compliance with the rules and handle tasks such as scoring scripted business events during the competition. In addition, CSC employees will champion each of the five regional finalist teams during the pre-competition phase and observe and support their chosen team during the three-day event.