Over the weekend, members of Capitol College’s Cyber Team competed in the DEF CON 21 CTF qualifying competition.
The competition lasted for 48 hours and was set up in a “Jeopardy” style format. Topics included web-based challenges, exploitation, shellcode, guerilla programming and reverse engineering. Capitol students faced stiff competition from teams competing remotely around the world.
DEF CON is one of the world’s largest “hacker conventions,” and is held annually in Las Vegas. Only 13 teams worldwide qualified for the DEF CON 21 CTF competition. While the Capitol College team did not make the top 13, they did finish in the top 25 percent of the 594 participating teams.
Members of Capitol College’s Cyber Team that participated in the event included Marc Fruchtbaum, Jeremy Hedges, Carter Waxman, Austin Merson, Nathan Wray, Andrew Durkin and Austin Richards.
Capitol College offers a bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral program in information assurance, which prepare students for engaging careers in the cybersecurity field. Students hone their cybersecurity skills in the college’s Cyber Lab, where students simulate, detect, analyze and defeat various hacker attacks and cybersecurity threats. Designed as an experiential learning center, the Cyber Lab provides students with the hands-on learning they need to thrive in industry.
The Cyber Team at Capitol College competes in dozens of competitions annually.