BVU Hosts Fourth Annual Computer Security Contest
Students from the Buena Vista University computer science department competed against each other and students from three additional schools during BVU's fourth annual virtual Capture the Flag computer security contest on Saturday, April 16.
Students from the Buena Vista University computer science department competed against each other and students from three additional schools during BVU's fourth annual virtual Capture the Flag computer security contest on Saturday, April 16.
A total of 67 students competed in the contest from BVU and three other schools: Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash.; Taylor University in Upland, Ind.; and The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash.
During the attack-and-defend challenge, which was spread over eight hours of competition time, 12 teams of five to six students each from the participating schools had the opportunity to test their hacking skills in a real-time setting and were also assigned servers to protect. Teams accumulated points by capturing data or "flags" from the servers of their competitors, by ensuring their servers were secure to prevent flag theft and by keeping their software services uninterrupted. Web cameras and projectors created a virtual window among contestants across the four remote sites for the duration of the contest.
"The BVU Capture the Flag contest challenges students to think critically about the unintended consequences of improper software design," said Dr. Nathan Backman, assistant professor of computer science at BVU and organizer of the Capture the Flag contest.
This year's event was structured in a new bracket-style competition model that could allow for increased scalability and participation from additional universities in the future, with the 12 teams divided into two groups of six teams each.
A BVU team took first place in the Group 2 bracket, which included Sarah Mackey, a junior mathematics and computer science major from Center Point; Aaron Nicolaisen, a freshman computer science and business major from Correctionville; Kyle Reimers, a senior computer science major from Storm Lake; Zachary Sebring, a senior computer science major from Gowrie; Matthew Swanson, a sophomore vocal music performance and computer science major from Storm Lake; and Kilian Wehde, a junior computer science major from Marshall, Minn.
Backman received an education grant award from Amazon Web Services to obtain external server space to facilitate the challenge.