Students in the Information Systems Technology program at Mitchell Technical Institute recently placed second in the North Central Region Collegiate Cyber Defense competition. The second annual event pitted eight teams from seven schools against each other in a two-day contest held at Dakota State University in Madison March 6 and 7.
The task for the teams was to set up and protect a virtual business network from attacks by a designated “red team.” Team members work collaboratively in a virtual network to maintain and enhance the network while simulated problems arrive: loss of an email server, a network outage, a security breach or other problem. They must also be performing routine tasks to the network like adding a new user, changing a name or other commonplace tasks that a network technician would perform. Teams are scored by a virtual scoring engine monitor.
The University of Nebraska at Kearney was the winner of the competition, with MTI placing second and Western Dakota Technical Institute placing third.
Team members from MTI included: Brandy Bambas, Mt. Vernon; Ryan Chavis, Yankton; Erik Gislason, Plankinton; Noelle Hanson, Salem; Alex Kayser and Nicole Reitzel, Alexandria; Kurt Wermers, Rapid City; Jenna Whipple-Riley and Keith Whipple-Riley, Mission. The team advisor is Kelvin Albertz.
