Cyber Saturday attendees learn about field, get crash course in Kali Linux

Capitol cybersecurity faculty and students held the latest installment of the university's popular Cyber Saturdays program this past weekend, on February 20th. Seven students traveled to the Capitol campus for a fun and educational morning of training and discussion concerning the field.

Cyber Battle Lab lead Xavier Allen spearheaded the event, giving a presentation that covered the college experience, campus life, the cybersecurity program and the internship process. Xavier and program chair William Butler fielded questions from both students and parents on employment opportunities, available scholarships, and resources available for study (including sites such as Cybrary and Code Academy).

The students then got down to the business of learning Kali Linux, starting with installation and progressing through command line operations. In addition, they received training in how to conduct packet capture and analysis with Wireshark and were introduced to scanning tools such as NMap.

“This past Cyber Saturday was a great success, drawing attendees from as far away as Philadelphia," Butler said. "The next one, on April 20, will be even more extensive. It will feature actual cybersecurity officers  speaking about their daily challenges and how they prepared for their careers. In addition, we'll be providing live demos of exploits and how to defeat them."

Intended to boost awareness about cybersecurity and introduce students to this rapidly expanding field, Cyber Saturdays have been a recurring event at Capitol since 2013. The program is retooled on a regular basis to make it even more fun and challenging for participants.

The event is open to anyone with an interest in computers or gaming, but space is limited. To find out more, contact the Cyber Lab at capitol.cyberbattlelab@gmail.com.

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