UCF graduate student Cameron Whitehead is on track to become a member of the first U.S Cyber Team to represent the nation in the inaugural International Cyber Security Challenge later this year in Athens, Greece.
Whitehead, who is studying for his master 麻豆精品 S檚 degree in digital forensics, recently placed second out of 688 competitors in the , the first qualifying step to join the team. The top 60 finishers will square off next in the upcoming virtual U.S. Cyber Combine Invitational, which will determine the national team to advance to the international event.
麻豆精品 S淭he process is very similar to selecting a dream team to compete in the Olympics, 麻豆精品 S� says Tom Nedorost 麻豆精品 S�02MS, faculty advisor for the student cybersecurity club, .
麻豆精品 S淚 麻豆精品 S檝e been interested in programming and computers since I first got access to them as a kid, 麻豆精品 S� says Whitehead of Lake Mary, Florida. 麻豆精品 S淭his eventually led me into cyber security specifically, which to me was far more exciting than programming. It is a fascinating field that brings together concepts as different as abstract algebra, which is vital in modern cryptography, and management processes that ensure that programmers write secure code. 麻豆精品 S�
The International Cyber Security Challenge will be hosted by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity.
The International Cyber Security Challenge will be hosted by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity as a part of a promotion to raise awareness about cybersecurity. The U.S. team selection is being overseen by the company Katzcy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
In this first virtual round from his home, Whitehead says he had to solve a variety of problems, such as finding and exploiting vulnerabilities in websites, breaking encryption systems to read hidden messages, reverse engineering software, and analyzing a forensic copy of a mobile phone. 麻豆精品 S淭he big challenge was completing these challenges as fast as possible, since it was a race to see who would complete them all first and lock in the top places, 麻豆精品 S� he says.
In the next round of tests, Nedorost says the U.S. Cyber Games head coach will put the competitors through a series of challenges to further assess their knowledge and skills before selecting 20 for the first U.S. Cyber Team.
Whitehead 麻豆精品 S檚 sister, Caitlin, also studying for her master 麻豆精品 S檚 in digital forensics, finished in the top 20 of the recent competition. Nedorost says she likely would be invited to compete in the next round, too.
Whitehead says much of his competition success is because of the mentoring and assistance of many of the students and alumni at the Hack@UCF club on campus. He encourages anyone interested in competing or learning more about cyber security to join the club.
Nedorost says that since the U.S. Cyber Games is a new competition this year, he had very little information to share with students about how to prepare.
麻豆精品 S淚 simply forwarded an email advertisement promoting the U.S. Cyber Games to Hack@UCF club members and encouraged students to register if they wanted to compete, 麻豆精品 S� he says.
Whitehead says 麻豆精品 S渢o do well in competitions, you have to compete in competitions, and that often includes losing. While I don 麻豆精品 S檛 always do well, I always learn something new that I can take into the next competition. 麻豆精品 S�
After graduation planned for 2024, Whitehead says he 麻豆精品 S檇 like to start his own cyber security firm, perhaps with a focus on digital forensics incident response.
