January 15, 2010

Wilmington University Dominates International Cyber Security Competition

Senator Carper, Governor Markell, and Secretary Sills Congratulate Winning Team

Senator Tom Carper, Governor Markell and State Chief Information Officer Jim Sills III congratulated the first place winners of the 2009 DC3 Digital Forensics Challenge competition today.  A team of Wilmington University undergraduates took the top prize in their category and came in third among 1,153 teams from 56 countries.

“The achievement of these students goes beyond winning the competition.  They’ve contributed to our reputation as a state with a legacy of innovation and top talent locally,” said Markell. “I look forward to the day when their innovations will be employing—and saving the lives of—their neighbors in Delaware.  They have also inspired students across the state and the country to pursue a career in a new and critically important field.  We all owe you our gratitude for that.”

The competition was co-sponsored by the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3), the SANS Institute and IMPACT (International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Threats). Each group was given a hypothetical scenario in which the team acts as computer forensics analysts trying to help law enforcement stop terrorists threatening to blow up a building.

"It seems like only a few years ago that birds were the only ones that 'tweeted' and 'bluetooth' was something you should talk to your dentist about,” said Senator Carper. “But so much has changed in the past decade or so that you would be hard pressed to find some aspect of our life that isn't connected to the Internet. But with all of the efficiencies we have seen due to our interconnectedness we also have opened ourselves up to a lot of risk. I would say to 'Google' the words 'cyber attack' to learn how vulnerable we are, but in fact, just this week Google accused China of hacking into their systems and spying on individuals that supported human rights. So you can see how important it is that we focus on the next generation of Americans to make sure they have the skills necessary to defend our companies and more importantly our country.”

Wilmington University’s team, including Clay Batchelor, Roman Sheriff, Enjolokee Jones, and Michael Escobar, along with their faculty advisor, Chris Shanahan and their sponsor, Mark Hufe, was one of only 44 that were able to solve the challenge.  They beat out government, military and civilian competitors. Their final score was very close to that of the overall top US team, graduate students from the Air Force Institute of Technology.  
 
“We’re all very proud of this team and the tremendous amount of work that they put into this accomplishment,” said Secretary Sills.  “They have bright futures, and I believe their efforts in cyber security will make all of our futures brighter as well.”
 
“I am amazed at how tech-savvy youngsters are these days, but I am especially amazed that these young folks from Wilmington University are head and shoulders above their peers,” added Senator Carper. “We need more people like them and I challenge more Delawareans to step up and enter cyber challenges so that we can make sure America stays number one in the next generation."