MATC IT SECURITY STUDENTS TEAM PLACES FIRST
IN AREA AND THIRD IN REGIONAL COLLEGIATE CYBER DEFENSE COMPETITIONS
A team of Information Technology (IT) students from Madison Area Technical College (MATC) won first place in the first round of the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. The team beat four other teams, all from Minnesota, and moved onto the Midwest regional competition in Illinois in mid-March taking third place.
"The escalating proliferation of viruses, spyware, worms and hacker intrusions, has fueled a growing need for trained IT security professionals. The success of our students in the Cyber Defense competition shows they are ready to meet this need," says Ken McCullough, lead instructor in MATC’s Information Technology Department. "This achievement reflects not only a high level of technical skill, but also shows their ability to work as a team."
IT security is an attractive and challenging field. Average annual salaries for IT security staff ranges from $49,000 to $70,000 and locally, the average wage is $33.50/hour.
At the competition, students from two-year colleges and four-year universities enrolled in information assurance or computer security programs competed in a controlled environment designed to simulate real-world challenges related to protecting a network infrastructure and business information system.
Each team was given identical computer configurations at the start of the competition. Throughout, the teams must concentrate on defensive strategies designed to ensure their systems supply the specified services while under attack from a professional “red team.” In addition, the teams also were required to satisfy periodic “injects” simulating everyday business activities and requests faced by IT teams in the real world.
IT instructor and team advisor Craig Newman and the team's student co-advisor TJ Robb led the MATC team along with co-captains, students Mark Fredrickson (of Stevens Point) and Steve Hallet (of Madison). The team included IT Network Security Specialist Program students Fredrickson, Tanner Schultz, Casey Cammilleri and Hans Lakhan (all from Madison) and Rick Vander Geest (of Janesville) as well as Hallet, who is in the college’s IT Computer Systems Administration Specialist Program. In addition, MATC instructor Mike Masino developed the scoring engine for the competition.
MATC’s two-year associate degree IT Network Security Specialist Program introduces students to computer network threats and the appropriate incident responses, including defenses, countermeasures and computer forensics. Students receive extensive hands-on training in configuring a variety of network operating systems, firewalls, virtual private networks (VPN), packet filters and host intrusion detection systems (HIDS) to maximize information security in the network. The college also offers an IT Information Security Certificate program providing instruction for networking students and professionals who want to expand their skills in computer security.
MATC is one of the largest of the Wisconsin Technical College System’s 16 colleges. It provides “real world smart” education through a comprehensive curriculum of technical, liberal arts and science, adult basic education and life enrichment studies and activities, as well as customized employee training. MATC offers associate degrees, vocational diplomas and certificates, and non-degree courses in more than 140 programs of study. The college serves parts of 12 counties in southcentral Wisconsin and offers instruction through five campuses and numerous community locations throughout the district.
###
Last
Modified:
April 11, 2007
top |
