Minnesota Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition

Advance IT Minnesota sponsored the 2012 Minnesota Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) held at Alexandria Technical College and Minneapolis Community and Technical College on Saturday, February 25, 2012 (9am-7pm). There were 6 Minnesota teams who competed this year: 
 
 See this year's program and sets of photos: set 1, set 2, set 3, set 4, and set 5
 
3 Teams at Alexandria Technical and Community College:

  • Alexandria Technical & Community College (ATCC)
  • Minnesota State Community and Technical College (MSCTC)
  • St. Cloud State University (SCSU) WINNER 1st Place - Congratulations!

3 Teams at Minneapolis Community and Technical College:

  • Century College - 2nd Place - Congratulations!
  • Inver Hills Community College (IHCC)
  • Minnesota State University, Mankato (MSU) - 3rd Place - Congratulations!

 

Participation Registration (closed):
 
EVERYONE who plans to participate needs to SELF-REGISTER including coaches, judges, speakers and members of the black, blue, gold, and red teams.  There is a DEADLINE for registration to guarantee your shirt of specific size.  Registrations after the start of the Minnesota state event will not be accepted.
NOTE: This is for individual registration for participants from institutions that have already completed the team registration and the participation committment process.

Photos from past event: Here are some photos and program from a past competition.
 
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What are the Goals of the Competition?

The Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition allows institutions of higher education which offer an information assurance or computer security curriculum to assess their students' depth of understanding and operational competency in managing the challenges inherent in protecting an enterprise network infrastructure and business information systems.
The competition features a controlled competitive environment that can:

  • Provide a meaningful mechanism for institutions to evaluate their programs.
  • Gives students an opportunity to apply the theory and skills they have learned in their course work.
  • Foster a spirit of teamwork, ethical behavior, and effective communication both within and across teams.
  • Open a dialog and awareness among participating institutions, students, and sponsoring organizations.
  • Let participants have fun!

What Does the Competition Involve?

This competition builds on the experience of the first Southwest Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition hosted by the University of Texas at San Antonio in the spring of 2005 and annual competitions ever since. Unlike many cyber security competitions, this exercise concentrates on defense. The teams are not allowed to take the offensive. Instead, a professional red team executes a series of simultaneous pre-planned attacks on all teams while the teams perform day-to-day business activities in a sumulated IT environment.

The competition will include six teams consisting of eight students each from numerous Minnesota community/technical colleges. Each team will be given identical computer configurations at the start of the competition. Throughout the competition, the teams must ensure the systems supply the specified services, while under attack from the red team. In addition, the teams will have to satisfy periodic "injects" that simulate business activities IT staff must deal with in the real world.

What Happens to the Winning Team?

The winning team will be invited to participate in the 2012 Midwest Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition hosted at Moraine Valley Community college, Palos Hills, Illinois on March 16-17, 2012.

How Can I Get Involved?

Invited teams are required to meet the following qualifications:

  • All members must be active students at the team college/university.
  • The school should offer courses that teach the principles outlined in the CNSS standards.
  • The college/university must be located in Minnesota.

We are also looking for people and organizations to become involved as sponsors, judges, and general support staff. If you would like to get involved, please contact us.