March 29, 2010
Security Dawgs place second at regional contest
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Despite being short-handed, the Southern Illinois University Carbondale Security Dawgs came very close to advancing to the fifth annual National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition April 16-18 in San Antonio.
The SIUC team took second place at the recent Midwest Regional Competition at Inver Grove Heights, Minn., losing to Chicago’s DePaul University. Only the first-place team advances to the national competition.
“They did a great job, despite being one team member short. They still came in second, which is admirable. There’s always next year!” said Belle Woodward, assistant professor in the School of Information Systems and Technologies. She is the team’s faculty adviser.
She said spring break scheduling conflicts forced the team to compete with just seven members and they weren’t able to complete all of the required incident reports. Essentially, the competition pits teams against one another in real world business situations where they complete a set of business ‘injects” as they keep their computer systems secure and all of the equipment operating and services running smoothly.
She called the second-place finish “bittersweet” in that it’s the last contest for team captain Marshall Riley.
“He’s done so well. He’s done a great job mentoring and guiding the team,” Woodward said.
Many of the other team members are seniors too.
Competing for SIUC at the regional contest, listed by hometown with major and year, were:
Illinois
LaHarpe
• Donnie Owsley, senior, information systems technologies.
Makanda
• Brett D. Ussher, senior, information systems technologies.
Marion
• Marshall Riley, graduate student, computer science.
Murphysboro
• Michael Buhman, sophomore, information systems technologies.
Nashville
• Gared Seats, senior, information systems technologies.
Princeton
• David Loftus, senior, political science.
Indiana
Fort Wayne
• Phillip Bristow, senior, information systems technologies.