February 23, 2017

‘Security Dawgs’ advance to wildcard competition

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s “Security Dawgs” will advance to a wildcard competition after finishing second in the Illinois Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition on Feb. 18. 

DePaul University won the overall eight-team event. SIU finished second for the third year in a row, but a new format this year allows second-place qualifiers in each of the nine states that comprise the Midwest region to compete March 4 at remote locations. The top two teams will join the respective state champions, March 17-18, at Moraine Valley Community College in the Midwest regional competition. Other states in the Midwest region are Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.     

“Our SIU Security Dawgs have once again demonstrated they can handle the pressure of having professional hackers attempt to break into their computer systems while making sure the systems can be accessed as intended,” Tom Imboden, associate professor, Information Systems and Applied Technologies and faculty adviser, said. “Second place in as competitive a state as we are in is a testament to these students' skills, knowledge, and effort.  We look forward to competing in the upcoming wildcard competition in March in hopes of once again advancing to the regional competition.  As an instructor and as their team adviser it is fun watching them learn and compete throughout the year but the best part of my participation with the group is knowing that their time as a Security Dawg will directly influence the success they will achieve in their future careers in IT."            ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

The Midwest regional winner advances to the 10th annual National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition April 13-15 in San Antonio, Texas. 

In the competition, teams work to keep their site secure from hackers and unwanted cyberattacks, and also are responsible for system maintenance, upgrades, and completing other requests, such as installing or upgrading a website. Teams earn points based upon how successful they are at accomplishing the business tasks, in addition to identifying and stopping hacker attacks, and writing incident reports. 

“I am very proud of our team,” Jonathon Farmer, the organization’s vice president, said. “This competition is very stressful and our team did an excellent job of staying focused throughout the event.”

Competing for SIU Carbondale, listed by hometown, major, and year in school are:

ILLINOIS

  • Chicago: Robert Brevard, information systems technologies, senior (alternate)
  • Decatur: Jordan Brown, information systems technologies, senior (alternate)
  • Freeport: Brandon Truckenmiller, information systems technologies, senior
  • Freeport: Logan Truckenmiller, information systems technologies, junior
  • Hoffman Estates: Christian Scott, information systems technologies, junior
  • Marion: Trenton Taylor, information systems technologies, senior
  • Pittsburg: Curtis McRoy, information systems technologies, senior (alternate)
  • Rockford: Jonathon Farmer, information systems technologies and technical resource management, senior
  • Sesser: Cody Lingle, information systems technologies, senior
  • Wheaton: Michael McCarthy, information systems technologies, junior (alternate)

GEORGIA

  • Atlanta: Hallie Martin, information systems technologies, senior.

TEXAS

  • Rosenberg: Vincent Davis, computer science, senior.