Student Cyber Competitions

On February 27 and 28, 2004, a group of educators, students, government and industry representatives gathered in San Antonio, Texas, to discuss the feasibility and desirability of establishing regular cyber security exercises with a uniform structure for post-secondary level students.  During their discussions this group suggested the goals of creating a uniform structure for cyber security exercises might include the following:

1. Providing a template from which any educational institution can build a cyber security exercise

2. Providing enough structure to allow for competition among schools, regardless of size or resources

3. Motivating more educational institutions to offer students an opportunity to gain practical experience in information assurance

The group also identified concerns related to limiting participation to post-secondary students, creating a level playing field to eliminate possible advantages due to hardware and bandwidth differences, having a clear set of rules, implementing a fair and impartial scoring system, and addressing possible legal concerns.