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Computer students flag up the importance of cybersecurity

14/02/2019
Computer students flag up the importance of cybersecurity

The University of Wolverhampton's School of Mathematics and Computer Science hosted a ‘Capture the Flag’ competition as part of its Career Development Week.

Capture the Flag hacking competitions mirror the outdoor game, except over a network or online. One team of players attempt to locate and capture an opposing team’s “flag” while also defending their flag. In CTF competitions, the flag is a snippet of code, a piece of hardware on a network, or perhaps a file. In other cases, the competition may progress through a series of questions, like a race.

The day-long competition was led by Dr Gregory Epiphaniou and Dr Haider Al-Khateeb, cyber experts in the University of Wolverhampton Cyber Research Institute (WCRI) in collaboration with world leading experts Eder Luis and Rafael Narezzi using a Cloud-based platform fully customised to practice advanced exploitation techniques in a controlled environment.

The competition was an exercise to enforce excellence in the field of Cyber Security and expose students to the complexities and challenges in understanding adaptive attack methods.

Dr Gregory Epiphaniou said: "Unfortunately, adaptive attack methods do not scale well with static security controls currently deployed.

“Therefore, it’s important to train the next generation of cyber warriors, giving them a real world insight into the idiosyncrasies of our modern cyberspace in an attempt to better equip them with the tools and skills to rapidly adapt our defences.

“Competitions like these are an invaluable educational tool towards bridging any gaps in their existing skills but also help to teach our students how existing attack vectors can evolve against our least resistance paths.”

The exercises in the competition were designed by Eder Luis, a world leading Cyber Security Expert, consisting of 146 vulnerable hosts within a private and dedicated environment where students can emulate the threat landscape of our complex, fragile and insecure cyberspace.

Anyone wanting to study courses in the School of Computing and Mathematics should register for the next Open Day on Saturday 15th June 2019.  Find out more information about the Wolverhampton Cyber Research Institute, including courses.

Picture caption from left to right: Rafael Narezzi, Cybersecurity Expert, Computing and Mathematics students and Tony Proctor, Principal Lecturer in Cybersecurity at the University of Wolverhampton.

ENDS

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