The college Final Four in basketball wrapped up earlier this month in Phoenix, but the college competition underway today in San Antonio could prevent your identify from being stolen, and potentially protect the U.S. from cyber attack, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The 12th annual National Collegiate cyber Defense Competition, which was started by the UTSA Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security as a way to attract more young people into the field of cyber security, has attracted ten top colleges across the country to the Convention Center.
The participants are know as 'The Nation's Digital Defenders.'
Dr. Greg White, who heads the Center, says all ten colleges who are participating, just like in basketball, won their regional tournaments to advance to the championships.
He says today and tomorrow, they will be protecting operating networks from threats.
"There are the services that you must maintain," Dr. White says the students are told. "Then we check. If the services are up, they get a point. If they're down, they don't."
He says in the growing on line commerce industry, the key is to keep the systems up and operating, because if they're down, the store is closed and the company is not making any money.
Dr. White says a 'red team' hurls challenges at the teams, in the form of intrusion or hacking attempts.
"They basically simulate that hostile Internet environment, they are the threat. So we have to keep these people out."
The importance of cyber security to the future both of commerce and national security is obvious from the participants who sponsor the tournament or have recruiting booths at the Convention Center. They range from companies like Amazon and Apple, to government agencies including the CIA and the Department of Homeland Security.
Dr. White says this competition has become the best recruiting ground for computer security experts in the country. So good, in fact, that they had to set specific rules to limit companies and government agencies presenting high dollar contracts to the students during the competition.
"We got all the sponsors to agree, no job offers until the competition is over."