Home > Articles > Security > General Security and Privacy

An Insider's Look into the 2012 Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Challenge

Nothing is as valuable as real-world “hands-on” experience when it comes to dealing with cyber attacks. This is the lesson that the Collegiate Cyber Defense Challenge attempts to instill into the information security professionals of tomorrow. Brad Bowers takes an insider look into the 2012 Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Challenge that faces off hardened penetration testers against defending college teams in this annual cyber attack and defend competition.
Like this article? We recommend

Another year of the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Challenge (CCDC) has drawn to an end, and as I look back at the carnage that has ensued over the four-day event, I'm taken back by just how much the event has grown in breadth of technology, complexity, and prestige.

What is CCDC, you ask? CCDC is an annual competition that faces off seasoned penetration testers and security gurus from around the country against the next generation of IT security professionals. Colleges compete regionally to fight for the right to send a team to the national CCDC event held annually in San Antonio, Texas, and to ultimately hold clam to the title of Cyber Defense Champions.

CCDC isn't your usual college technology event. What once started as small-time events held in the back rooms of restaurants and warehouses with minimal visibility has grown to resemble a modern movie set with camera crews, guest speakers, and an arrangement of accouterments more commonly seen on professional production sets. 

CCDC's growth is also evident in the sponsors and attendees to the event.

This year's Mid-Atlantic event was attended by the likes of the Army Intelligence Corp, Lockheed Martin, DHS, MITRE, and the NSA. These organizations come to the event not only to help support the next generation of cyber warriors but to also recruit the best and brightest into their ranks. 

CCDC has a simple goal: Provide students who wish to pursue a career in the field of information security a glimpse into a day in the life of a security professional. Not only do the students get to experience the challenges of managing an assortment of IT systems, but they also experience a heart-thumping, hands-on example of the realities and complexities of protecting a corporate computing environment from attackers.

This is the Mid-Atlantic region's seventh year participating in the CCDC events. The region has come to be known for pushing the edge of the envelope by incorporating real-world technologies into the game play, and this year's event was no different.

Building a Better Mousetrap

The Cyber WatchCenter and iSIGHTPartners have a difficult task each year. Along with running the Mid-Atlantic CCDC event, they have the task of devising a challenging environment that will be defended by the "Blue Cell" competing college teams and attacked by the "Red Cell" penetration testers. On the surface, developing this environment may seem to be a simple task until you consider what exactly goes into the making of this high-tech mousetrap.

Each year CyberWatch and iSIGHT plan out the game environment, taking into consideration typical components found in large businesses including emerging technologies as well as changes in the information security industry. "The goal is very simple," says Tim Rosenberg of iSIGHT Partners. "We aim to develop a game play environment that incorporates relevant technologies, and as closely as possible resembles the complexities that a student can expect to encounter in real-world corporate IT." This year's environment did exactly that with a staggering array of Windows domain components, Linux systems, databases, Voice Over IP, wireless, and even the integration of mobile tablet computer devices.

Each year, the competing environment is focused around a theme that is decided on current developments or challenges in the information security industry. This year's theme was hospital and patient care. To make the experiences as real as possible for the students, numerous components that would typically be found in a hospital environment were incorporated into the event. This included patient care databases that contained sensitive PII data as well as patient treatment information. Students must securely control these systems and protect them against compromise in order to ensure the well-being of their imaginary patients. 

Adding to the challenge of the event, students must follow a tightly scripted set of "injects" or business tasks that involve an array of responsibilities typical for a hospital IT environment. These tasks range from performing software upgrades and the demands of management to dealing with power outages and data corruption. All this must be done while trying to cope with the onslaught of attacks from Red Cell.

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020