Cyber Defense Club Alumni Gain Valuable Skills and Land Excellent Careers

By Mallory Pittman

Students of Kansas State University will find that the Cyber Defense Club can benefit them in multiple ways. Club President, Richard Petrie, gave some insight on valuable skills and knowledge that might be gained by students.

Petrie mentioned that there are the obvious benefits that include the wider range of scenarios they may be able to handle better because they know more and have seen more.

The Cyber Defense Club meets in the Department
of Computer Science section of the Kansas
State Engineering Complex.

Other benefits include the fact that it is something other than a grade point average to put on a resume. Petrie explained that from personal experience of talking to recruiters, he knows many would rather see a slightly lower GPA paired with more extracurricular activities than a perfect GPA. This shows the extra work that a person is willing to do in order to gain outside, more diverse experience.

When entering a work field that is directly in, or related to cyber defense, the most valuable skill is “the ability to work on your feet.” Going into competitions, the team comes with a plan.  However, because of obstacles, the plan usually does not last more than an hour. This requires the members to problem solve on the spot. Competition team members often get assigned positions that they have never worked before.

Caleb Flemming (left) and club president, 
Richard Petrie (right), discuss upcoming
events with the CDC members.  They meet
weekly in DUE 2208, the Cyber Defense Lab.

Even if a student in the Cyber Defense Club is not a computer science major, skills learned in the club can help them in other areas as well. The club offers a different perspective and more experience in varying fields. In example, secure hardware design can be tied with cyber security, and is a field that has huge demand and can land an individual a nice job, and provide one more asset that makes a potential worker desirable to employers.

Another valuable skill that is improved through work done on this team is the ability to work with others. Time-crunch situations that are a part of the Cyber Defense Club’s competitions build skills that are useful even in fields outside of cyber defense.

Dr. Bartis is a Kansas State professor who was involved with and created the Cyber Defense Club, and has served as a great resource for the team. Though no names were given, Petrie specifically mentioned that some of his club’s alumni are now working at Linked In, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Army’s Cyber Warfare Brigade, and Cylance.  Speaking of alumni in general, Petrie stated: “I don’t know [an] alumni who has graduated from CDC [Cyber Defense Club] that isn’t in a great position.”

http://ksucyberdefencenews.blogspot.com/

Money, Money, Money

By Madison Loschke

Kansas State University’s Cyber Defense Club competition team travels across the Midwest in the United States for competition. These kinds of adventures take some serious planning because hauling the whole team on a small budget is a feat in and of itself.

Club treasurer, Caleb Fleming, 
at a recent cyber defense competition.

The Cyber Defense Club’s budget is designated mainly for travel expenses. This budget is formed by funding from the Kansas State University Department of Computer Science, as well as the College of Engineering.  The team must budget and plan every aspect of their travels from making hotel reservations to deciding what gas station to get fuel at.

When times get hard the team turns to its alumni to make individual donations. The team has no industry partners, however, because most alumni work for government agencies. This makes it hard for the team to gain a large corporate sponsor in the private sector according to the club treasurer, Caleb Fleming.  

To the team’s benefit, their meager budget is doable because of the fairly small number of competitions they attend and are satisfied with. Still, the team is “looking very closely” at their budget because they would like to “expand” and add another competition event this year, according to Fleming.

http://ksucyberdefencenews.blogspot.com/

Young K-State Cyber Defense Team Shows They Are Capable of Competing at High Levels

By Mallory Pittman

The Kansas State Cyber Defense Team began competing about four years ago, being started by a number of Alumni. One of them, Dr. Bartis, is now a professor in Kansas State University's engineering department. By their second year, the teams were already achieving placements within the top three at events.

Club President, Richard Petrie (far left) with other Cyber
 Defense Club members at this year's CANSec competition.

At their spring semester competition they have managed to take home second and third place awards.

In addition, they have taken first place two years in a row at the Central Networking and Security

(CANSec) competition.

Many of their competitions are structured very differently as far as teams that attend. The national competition held in Iowa invites and qualifies three college or university teams, and qualifies three high school teams. On the other hand, CANSec is composed of teams that all do research together.

Kansas University is a rival of Kansas State University, as they have competed at all of the same competitions so far. Richard Petrie, the club president, stated “It’s always a good feeling when we do well when they [Kansas University] are there."

Iowa State is considered the team to beat, since they have two teams that compete and have a lot of practice as a result of the amount of competitions they host for their students and others. The success of a team also depends a lot on the academia. Iowa State has full time professors that focus completely on putting on competitions. They receive large amounts of money, resources, and experience that give Iowa State an advantage.

Competition experience is another crucial part of competing, as a lot of improving is about learning from mistakes and not making the same ones again. On one occasion, the Kansas State team made a terrible mistake within the first three minutes of the competition, losing a flag, which cost them 15 percent of the team's score. Petrie is still very proud of his team, however, as they continued to push through and work as if they still had a chance to win.

For the rest of the competition K-State's team performed very well and unofficially finished in second place, if the points they lost from their mistake were not to be counted. The Kansas State team even ended up beating out many other teams that did not lose any points from lost flags. This was a prime example of the team’s moral and shows what makes Kansas State University's team special.

http://ksucyberdefencenews.blogspot.com/

Young K-State Cyber Defense Team Shows They Are Capable of Competing at High Levels

By Mallory Pittman

The Kansas State Cyber Defense Team began competing about four years ago, being started by a number of Alumni. One of them, Dr. Bartis, is now a professor in Kansas State University's engineering department. By their second year, the teams were already achieving placements within the top three at events.

Club President, Richard Petrie (far left) with other Cyber
 Defense Club members at this years CANSec competition.

At their spring semester competition they have managed to take home second and third place awards.

In addition, they have taken first place two years in a row at the Central Networking and Security

(CANSec) competition.

Many of their competitions are structured very differently as far as teams that attend. The national competition held in Iowa invites and qualifies three college or university teams, and qualifies three high school teams. On the other hand, CANSec is composed of teams that all do research together.

Kansas University is a rival of Kansas State University, as they have competed at all of the same competitions so far. Richard Petrie, the club president, stated “It’s always a good feeling when we do well when they [Kansas University] are there."

Iowa State is the team to beat when Kansas State's team is at a competition with them, since they have two teams that compete and have a lot of practice as a result of the amount competitions they host for their students and others.

The success of a team depends a lot on the academia. Iowa State has full time professors that focus completely on putting on competitions. They receive large amounts of money, resources, and experience that give Iowa State an advantage.

Competition experience is also crucial, as a lot of improving is about learning from mistakes and not making the same ones again. On one occasion, the Kansas State team made a terrible mistake within the first three minutes of the competition, losing a flag, which cost them 15 percent of the team's score. Petrie is still very proud of his team, however, as they continued to push through and work as if they still had a chance to win.

 For the rest of the competition K-State's team performed very well and unofficially finished in second place, if the points they lost from their mistake were not to be counted. The Kansas State team even ended up beating out many other teams that did not lose any points from lost flags. This was a prime example of the team’s moral and shows what makes Kansas State University's team special.

http://ksucyberdefencenews.blogspot.com/

Complexity of Cyber Defense Competitions Explained by K-State Veteran Team Members

By Mallory Pittman

The Kansas State Cyber Defense Team informed us about the rules of their competitions. We spoke with members of the blue team, graduate students Matt Webb and Chandan Chowdhury.  This team is in charge of defense. They have around one hour to lock everything down before the opposing red team comes in to break into the different systems. They are usually expected to secure things such as FTP servers, web servers, and more.

Three members of K-State's Cyber Defense Club
at the most recent CANSec competition.

Once the red team attempts to attack, the systems will be checked in time intervals of about five to fifteen minutes and the blue team will receive a point if a defended server is still up. Another twist is that “flags” are often hidden in servers. It is critical that these flags do not get compromised, or else the blue team suffers a significant loss of points.

The Central Networking and Security (CANSec) competition, the most recent competition they attended, has been held annually for 26 years. Cyber security as a whole emerged with the start of computers and the internet. About 25-30 years ago is when students started getting involved in the field and competitions arose.

In addition to their national competition that is held at Iowa State University, the team has also traveled to Little Rock, Arkansas and other cities, as the location of CANSec varies from year to year. The locations are usually not extremely far from Manhattan, Kansas, but the team would be eager to participate in competitions farther away if given the opportunity.

The entire team that went to the CANSec competition
held last month, which took place at Fontbonne
University in Clayton, Missouri.

Some of the competitions the team would like to attend are held in Las Vegas, but the team does not attend them due to reasons such as the cost and level of difficulty. The students are, however, planning on participating in a competition held in Colorado, hosted by the U.S. Air Force Academy, if budget allows.

Each competition includes different schools ranging from large universities similar to Kansas State to much smaller groups that come without uniforms. Because of this, and other factors that vary from competition to competition, it is hard to predict how the team will perform before they get there.

http://ksucyberdefencenews.blogspot.com/

Is Winning Everything?

By Madison Loschke

Most people participate in competition events for the money, trophies, and glory. Kansas State’s Cyber Defense team, however, does not compete for such trivial items.  Only some of the events team members attend give away rewards, even as simple as a trophy. When the team won the regional contest last year they did not receive a single item to show for it. Most people would be slightly irritated about having nothing to show for their hard work.

Two of the awards that the team has recieved

for placing well at the Iowa State competition

mentioned by Prough.

Kansas State’s Cyber Defense team does not compete for the prizes as team member Logan Prough, explained stating that his “motivation is to represent K-state well, show everyone what they have learned, and gain the personal experience.”  

The Cyber Defense Team’s national competition takes place in Iowa each year, and our university has a standing invitation due to the excellence our teams have shown repeatedly throughout their years of participation. One Kansas State team even placed second at the event. The team has also placed well at regional competitions and is currently on a two year winning streak.

Winning a national event would mean a great deal to the students who proudly represent Kansas State University. To these individuals, the hands on experience they gain on the competition trail means an astronomical amount more than any trophy ever could. 

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More Than Just Computer Hacking

By Madison Loschke and Caleb Pfeifer

Brandon Koch and Blake Wiles from Conway Springs, Kansas are freshman on Kansas State’s Cyber Defense Club competition team. While both young men are extremely tech savvy, becoming an all-knowing computer and cyber defense whiz is not the sole goal of the Cyber Defense team. The program works as a resource that helps individuals with varying career paths become better prepared for their future by learning the basics of computers and the technology that makes them work.

Brandon Koch (top) and Blake Wiles

(bottom) work on their self-built 

computers in their dorm rooms.

“I’m looking at cyber defense for some sort of government company,” stated Koch, who also has considered a career that involves using algorithms to encrypt digital data. That process is called cryptography and would require him to have a double major in math. Wiles, on the other hand, is not planning a career that is directly related to cyber defense, but plans to be a software engineer.

These freshman students have already learned learn numerous basic skills while preparing for competition, such as how Linux, Routers, and Modems work. Linux is an operating system that is commonly found in professional industry. Routers and Modems find themselves in nearly everyone’s daily life due to the fact almost every home or workplace in America needs them to operate in modern society.

Team members will testify that you don’t need to be focused on a career in cyber defense in order to reap benefits from their club. Abilities such as un-hacking or removing malware from your personal computer are among the many skills taught during meetings and through competition. The general knowledge you gain prevents you from depending on others in your daily life, when your computer problems are a relatively easy fix.

Koch affirmed: “The general knowledge is always helpful so if something goes wrong, you know where to look or who to contact to help you.”

http://ksucyberdefencenews.blogspot.com/

Cyber Defense Team Steals First Place in First Competition of the Year

By Mallory Pittman

Durland Hall (DUE) where students gather

 for Cyber Defense Club every Thursday at 6:00 pm.

Every Thursday night, about 40 students gather in Kansas State University’s Durland Hall to hold meetings for the Cyber Defense Club.

Richard Petrie, the club president, and Caleb Fleming, the team’s treasurer spoke about some of the competitions they have been to and what the preparation work looks like for such events. According to them, different types of competitions require varying amounts of work ahead of time.

The Central Area Networking and Security (CANSec) competition they attended last week required on the spot problem solving.  They only had the knowledge of what last year’s competition consisted of to help them. “We just show up and figure it out,” says Petrie. Petrie’s team’s initial plan this year fell apart, but they solved challenges quickly and ended up taking first place.

Other types of competitions require much more preparation work. The next event they attend allows them a month to work through ideas before the actual competition.  Petrie claimed that it helps them “think through exactly how […] to set things up and get things configured.”

The type of competition all depends on the organization and how they decide to set it up.

Some of the competitions they go to are defensive style. “We are given a network and computers on that network and we have to fix them and secure them,” explains Petrie.

On the other hand, the offensive style competitions are set up like capture the flag and usually the team faces challenges online. Their goal is often to essentially go through and “break things” or steal something off of another computer system. The Cyber Defense team usually attends one of these each month.

Some members work and prepare for cyber defense competitions outside of the club’s meetings. These individuals are passionate about Cyber Defense and spend spare time participating in competitions on their own.  Some members, however, are not as fortunate when it comes to having time to invest in the club.  Even Fleming, who has an officer position, stated “I would like to spend more time [on the Cyber Defense Club] but it just doesn’t happen.”

Concerning those who do not have excess time to sharpen their cyber defense skills, Petrie stated “that’s perfectly okay […] homework and family always take priority over events”.  

Kansas State Students Practice Ethical Hacking in Cyber Defense Club

By Caleb Pfeifer

Hacking, counter hacking, and simulated network environments sound like subjects that belong in government agencies, but according to the description on the Kansas State website, these subjects play a crucial role in the university’s Cyber Defense Club, and their goal of developing cyber defense skills in students.

Faculty Advisor Eugene Vasserman

The beginnings of the Cyber Defense Club, according to current faculty advisor, Eugene Vasserman, can be traced back about four years ago when previous Kansas State professor Simon Ou started the organization.

“I took over by default when Simon left,” said Vasserman, “but honestly, it’s something I really enjoy doing.”   In his position, Vasserman has the role of coming to meetings, making suggestions to members, changing the constitution and budget, and giving useful information to the team.  Occasionally, he also attends competitions which are what he claims the team is mainly about.

“They have a number of awards they have won, some for first place,” Vasserman affirmed, speaking of the Capture the Flag style competitions the club participates in. These competitions can range from events outside of the university, to small competitions that go no further than the Cyber Defense Club’s members.

Vasserman stated that when they are not competing, the team has invited discussions on security, system administration, ethics of how they use the information they acquire, and tools of the trade. The team’s goal is for seniors and other members with skills in certain areas to pass their knowledge to younger teammates whom lack those specific abilities. By doing this, Vasserman hopes to maintain a team with thorough knowledge about cyber defense.

Students involved with the Cyber Defense Club this year will be involved with three external (out of campus) competitions, and multiple on campus events.  Vasserman said that it is up to students how much they want to put into the club outside of school time.

“They only meet officially once a week,” said Vasserman, “but that doesn’t mean that people don’t do preparatory work outside.”  Though mainly officers have outside responsibilities, according to Vasserman, members can ultimately put as much time and effort into the Cyber Defense Club as they desire.

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