Defending cyberspace
Participants and supervisors in the 2012 Cyber Defence University Challenge
The next generation of cyber defenders are being trained at Monash University thanks to a Government-run cyber challenge.
The 2012 Cyber Defence University Challenge aimed to promote cyber security as an interesting career option to undergraduate university students by using the challenge to highlight some of the key skills needed in a cyber security career.
Staff from the Faculty of Information Technology set up an exclusive lab for the team of four Monash students at the Clayton campus to use during the 24-hour challenge.
Professor Balasubramaniam Srinivasan, from the Clayton School of Information Technology, said the challenge tested student’s skills in penetration testing, fixing vulnerabilities, malware forensics and secure design.
“The primary focus was on how to fix the vulnerabilities the students identified and exploited,” Professor Srinivasan said.
“The scenario was that a small business, with high-powered clients, was moving their appointment booking system online. They were worried about the risk of sensitive information being compromised and the effect on their business if that happened.”
The teams from 15 universities across Australia competed to penetrate the company’s internal windows network, which was used for email and storing patient information.
“The company’s website was used for providing information to clients and allowing them to book appointments, but that meant that while the IT environment was quite functional it was not necessarily secure,” Professor Srinivasan said.
Points were given by judging each of the teams on accuracy and completeness.
“While Monash didn’t achieve a podium finish, the team still had a great time and the challenge really got students interested in cyber security as a career option,” Professor Srinivasan said.
The challenge was run by the Australian Government and Telstra.