Cybersecurity is globally recognized as a matter of international importance. It is essential that we protect the critical systems and networks that underpin our financial, information, trade, communication and defense industries. While the scale alone of this task can seem daunting, the challenge is multiplied by the fact that the cyber domain is constantly changing, with multiple access points, technologies and users.
In the midst of this challenge, we also face a global deficit in cybersecurity talent. Academia is racing to catch up, but the rapid changes in the cyber environment mean normal teaching tools such as textbooks become outdated. As students who competed in this past weekend’s Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition at Johns Hopkins University can attest, we must continually innovate skills development techniques to keep up with our nation’s information technology and cybersecurity challenges.
Programs like the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition offer a missing piece of the academic puzzle. It is one thing to take a test, but it is another thing to apply the knowledge. By offering students real-world experience in tandem with their academic studies, competition organizers are breathing new life into information technology and cybersecurity degrees. Students are no longer limited to the theoretical methods for configuring and securing a network infrastructure. Thanks to the NCCDC competition series, students have a place to apply the theories they learn in the classroom and to broaden their understanding of the challenges that await them beyond graduation.
The NCCDC competitions go beyond testing the boundaries of classroom learning in real-world settings. With such rapid evolution of cyber threats, cohort learning and peer collaboration become an essential part of the educational process. Students competing in the NCCDC and similar competitions can learn as much from one another as they learn in classroom settings — and perhaps more. This is why we must work hard to support such national and regional programs and foster even more of them around the country. I learned many important lessons from professors during my graduate studies at the University of California, Davis, but I learned just as much by collaborating with my classmates on research projects. Ensuring that students continue to learn about current and future threats through research, collaboration and competition is critical to our national security.
Competitions like NCCDC bring much-needed attention to the critical importance of cybersecurity while also offering students a proving ground in which to learn and adapt their working knowledge in the face of continuously evolving attack vectors. With more than 180 teams and 2,000 students participating in this year’s NCCDC competition series, it is clear cyber students are attracted to competitions that offer a platform to showcase their skills while networking and learning new skills from one another and from the industry professionals who support these programs.
As we strive to inspire the next generation of cyber defenders through competition, we must also support those who continuously seek synergistic paths for academia, industries and students to team together through such programs. The Mid-Atlantic CCDC is a great example of how academic competitions can stimulate young minds while furthering our collective knowledge about how to defend our community against a group of adversaries who constantly move the goalposts. After all, the winners of these competitions are ultimately the American people. Here’s hoping this year’s national cyber champ emerges from the regional at Johns Hopkins!
Kristen Kennedy is a software engineer at Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems, a business unit of Raytheon Company in Dulles, Virginia. Kennedy is also the technical lead for Raytheon’s 2016 Intelligence and Information Systems Cyber Hardening Campaign.
