Contact: Phil Hearn
Five teams of Mississippi State students will try to penetrate a variety of computer systems Tuesday [Nov. 28] during a "Capture the Flag" exercise staged by the computer science and engineering department.
The exercise will be held 9:30-10:45 a.m. in 206 Butler Hall, the building on George Perry Boulevard that houses the university department and its Center for Computer Security Research. News coverage is invited.
Center director Ray Vaughn, MSU's Billie J. Ball Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, said student teams will compete to see who can break into the most computer systems in the least amount of time. Prizes will be awarded to winning teams at the end of the competition.
"It is very close to 'hacking,' but in reality, it is designed to develop the special skill of penetration testing," explained Vaughn. "This is the culmination of a semester-long course in which we have taught the students how to secure their systems. In order to secure systems, you need to know technically how they are penetrated and be able to test your defenses.
"This exercise tests the students' skills in applying what they have learned in the classroom," he added.
For more information, contact Vaughn at 662-325-7450 or Vaughn@cse.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.