U.S. Cyber Challenge’s Annual Cyber Quest Competition

Published: April 18, 2018 | Author: Lexi Carter | Read Time: 3 minutes

Southern Utah University annually hosts a week-long Cyber Camp in coordination with the U.S. Cyber Challenge. This year’s Western Regional U.S. Cyber Challenge Competition will be held in coordination with Cheyenne High School in Las Vegas from July 30 - August 3. Camp participants will receive intensive instruction from SUU professors and SANS instructors and will culminate in a cyber hacking challenge.

USCC has opened registration for the 2018 Cyber Quests online competition. The annual Cyber Quests competition determines who qualifies for the U.S. Cyber Challenge Summer Cyber Camps, a leading nationwide program in cybersecurity workforce development.

While registration is now open, the actual competition began Tuesday, April 10, 2018, with the competition closing on Tuesday, May 1, 2018. To register and compete, visit uscc.cyberquests.org . Everyone is welcome to participate in this free competition.

“We see a lot of news about cyber security and a growing gap in the workforce, meaning there are a lot more jobs out there than we have qualified individuals to fill,” said Dr. Rob Robertson, Computer Science and Information Security department chair and director of the Master of Cyber Security and Information Assurance . “One of the main goals of these camps is to elevate the skills of our cyber professionals to fill those positions across the nation.”

The Cyber Quests competition and USCC camps are designed to improve cybersecurity skills, provide training & mentorship from renowned instructors and highlight skills for potential employers. For this specific Cyber Quest, competitors will follow the history of cryptography and cryptanalysis by looking at these systems and decrypting the messages to progress through the challenge.

For Cyber Quests, participants will have 24-hours to complete the competition, beginning from the time they begin answering questions. Winners are determined based on who achieves the highest score in the shortest amount of time, and top performers who are 18 years or older and U.S. citizens will be eligible to receive an invitation to one of the week-long Cyber Camps offered across the country. The four camps will be hosted by Moraine Valley Community College (Palos Park, Illinois), Southern Utah University in collaboration with Cheyenne High School (North Las Vegas, NV), Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA), and Wilmington University (Dover, DE).

Those who attend a USCC Cyber Camp will receive high level instruction from some of the nation’s most talented cybersecurity teachers and practitioners, participate in hands-on lab activities, network with employers at the camp job fair, and compete in a capture-the-flag competition that challenges both their technical skill sets and their ability to work in a team environment.

U.S. Cyber Challenge is supported in part through sponsorships by Accenture and Defense Point Security, AFFIRM, Amazon Web Services, CenturyLink, Common Knowledge Scholarship Foundation, Cyber Ninjas, the Department of Homeland Security, Duo, Federal CIO Council, (ISC)2, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Monster Government Solutions, NIC, SANS Institute, the Center for Cyber Safety and Education, Sherman Consulting, and Unisys.

To learn more about Cyber Quests, visit the website at USCC.CyberQuests.org . Details about the summer camps are on the USCC website – www.USCyberChallenge.org .

Learn more about SUU’s Master of Cyber Security and Information Assurance.

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Tags: Computer Science Cyber Security

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