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Mason Competitive Cyber scores multiple wins at CyberForge 2024

Martha Bushong — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 17:50:37 +0000

Mason Competitive Cyber scores multiple wins at CyberForge 2024 Martha Bushong Wed, 02/14/2024 - 12:50

In This Story

The George Mason University team Mason Competitive Cyber scored first, second, and fourth place at the Cyberforge 2024 competition held on February 11-12. During the two-day conference students heard from industry professionals and enhanced their cyberskills by competing in the Capture the Flag (CTF) competition.

“Winning a Virginia-wide competition is pretty good news by itself,” said Cyber Security Engineering Department Chair Paulo Costa. “CyberForge is especially important due to the quality of the teams, the level of effort every team and associated organizations/universities put into it, and the impact it has in the Virginia cybersecurity space."

Costa consider this one of the two most important competitions in the area. The other is Virginia Military Institute’s Cyber Fusion event happening later this month on February 23-24.

The Cyberforge event featured companies such as MITRE, CCI, G2OPS, HAK5, CompTIA, Virginia Cyber Range, WiCyS, TCM Security, and more. The Mason students competed against top collegiate teams and industry professionals from around Virginia. Students value competitions as these events allow them to meet talented students and industry professionals outside their home institution.

The team won multiple different prizes, including but not limited to Canakit raspberry pi 5 kits, CompTIA vouchers, and HAK5 gift cards, but they are most proud of the winner’s plaque, which they hope to display in the department’s office.

The event was hosted by the Coastal Virginia Cybersecurity Student Association (CVCSA), Coastal Virginia Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (COVA CCI), and a local college/university's cybersecurity club.

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Novus Security Inc. cofounders win $50,000 for web3 cybersecurity app

Teresa Donnellan — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 20:16:21 +0000

Novus Security Inc. cofounders win $50,000 for web3 cybersecurity app Teresa Donnellan Mon, 11/28/2022 - 15:16

Early in 2022, Dominique Calder’s relative lost almost $20,000 to a cryptocurrency scam.

“[W]hen I was helping the family member go through stuff,” the PhD candidate in Computer Science at George Mason University explains, “I was able to pretty much pinpoint back to the server where this origination happened.”

Emanuel Perez (left) and Dominique Calder. Photo by Storm Calder of 13News Now (WVEC)

A few months later, when Calder's mentee and friend Emanuel Perez described an idea for a business to make the web3 space—where much cryptocurrency dealing takes place—more secure, Calder was eager to help. Perez came up with the idea for the business when he noticed a phishing scam in a group chat for investors interested in cryptocurrency.

“This is happening all across the community—even to people who know stuff about crypto. They are still getting scammed, because scammers are just that good.” Calder said.

By early November, as finalists in the Black Ambition Prize contest, Calder and Perez won $50,000 to develop Novus Security, Inc.

Novus Security Inc.

Calder and Perez started the business in March 2022 and applied for Black Ambition at the end of June, primarily to gain some exposure, says Calder.

“It's really gotten some great attention,” Calder says. Perez, an entrepreneur at heart, notes that his ambition to create Novus Security Inc., is unlike past endeavors—he left a full-time job at Microsoft to work on his startup full-time.

Since the contest, Novus has been making quick progress. The company is incorporated and the co-founders are planning to grow their team in the upcoming year. Ultimately, Calder and Perez plan to develop an app to detect potential phishing scams in Web3 and to foster a Web3 cybersecurity community.

“We also wanted to be a community for passionate Web3 users, [such as] people who are into crypto and into buying NFTs and things like that,” explains Calder. “We want a community to be built where we can detect scams [and] let people know ... ‘Hey, this is the new way that scammers are making an approach.’ So we want an educational aspect around [Novus] as well.”

Web3 is a decentralized version of the internet based on public blockchain. While the burgeoning space and its premise of decentralization entice users, the risks in engaging with an inherently unregulated space are all too apparent. Perez explains that the same risks to internet surfing in Web2, the version of the internet most people use, are elevated in Web3. For example, when assets are traded in Web3, Perez says, the user, rather than a third party such as a bank, must assume significant risk; the user is in charge of protecting these assets.

Moreover, scammers are adapting quickly in Web3. Perez recalls a joke about Web3 developing at ten times the speed of other industries and notes that the rapidity of developing threats poses a challenge to traditional cybersecurity systems. Calder says there are many free, public sites, such as VirusTotal, working to combat phishing in Web2. She explains, “You can go there and put in a site ... and they'll give you a certain confidence level like, ‘This site is likely suspicious based off of these factors.’ We want that for the Web3 space, because there's nothing that exists like that at the moment.”

A Balanced Partnership

Both alumni of Norfolk State University, Calder and Perez met when Calder returned to the school in 2017 as a recent grad to speak to computer science students.

“I gave a short spiel about my journey and how difficult things were for me,” Calder recalls. “He [Perez] was so moved, he came up to me and asked me to mentor him, because he was considering dropping out of school. I was very blown away that that he even came up to me and asked me, you know, to mentor him, let alone...that he was in a position that I was once in myself.”

“We formed a great friendship,” she adds, “He graduated just last year [2021] … and he got a job at Microsoft coming straight out of college. That's any student's dream, right?”

The co-founders have complementary skillsets. While Calder studied computer science with a concentration in information assurance for both her bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, Perez chose to study business management information systems. Calder notes that combining their different perspectives has been “useful,” adding that their contrasting skills help sharpen each other.

“I have a heavy tech background myself,” Calder explains. While a graduate student at George Mason she has also been working for TikTok, where she was a founding member of their digital forensics team. She adds, “Having somebody like Emanuel, who's had a heavy entrepreneurial background, has been great … We're having to figure out a lot of things on our own … but we have a great rapport. We trust each other. We have a brother/sister type of relationship more than just business partners.”

Hometown Pride

As both Calder and Perez are natives of Virginia Beach, Virginia, it was all the more meaningful to receive the prize money as the culmination of a massive, positive event in their hometown. Founded by Pharrell Williams and led by Felecia Hatcher, the Black Ambition Prize contest awarded over two million dollars to finalists representing innovative businesses across various industries. The contest took place as part of the Mighty Dream Forum, a three-day conference on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Williams is also from Virginia Beach.

“It was really cool to see that level of creativity [and] that level of business being brought to our area,” Calder says. “It did something for the community. It reignited something that we were missing”

Calder notes that the area has lost business recently due to violence in the area.

“We're losing a lot of areas for people to hang out and do stuff and have fun and be safe,” she says. “So to see a hometown hero...make it rain $2.5 million to a bunch of people that really, really needed it was great.”

Of the win, Calder says, “We didn't even really envision this for ourselves at one point, but there was a time in life where we were able to see this for ourselves, and so to see all of that manifest that day on stage [when] we were standing there with the check—it's like, ‘Wow, things can really happen with some good work and good effort.’” Being part of this great event in their hometown “put the icing on the cake” to their winning $50,000, says Calder.

As finalists, the Novus co-founders now have access to a network of expert advisors as well as fellow budding entrepreneurs. Calder has relished meeting so many interesting people. “I love every moment,” she says.

Next for Novus

For now, the cofounders are focused on getting their app in the Chrome web store.

"The development is still underway, but the next thing is to definitely get the app out there to be used,” says Calder. “Every day people are getting hit by scams.”

Perez says he and Calder plan to keep their team small. Nevertheless, they hope to bring on new people in the upcoming year, specifically a full-stack software engineer and a security engineer, respectively.

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career-ready graduates

Cybersecurity

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College of Engineering and Computing

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Mason students build drones as part of Commonwealth Cyber Initiative

Colleen Rich — Tue, 31 May 2022 14:11:38 +0000

Mason students build drones as part of Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Colleen Rich Tue, 05/31/2022 - 10:11

In This Story

Mohamed Gebril

George Mason University Cybersecurity Engineering associate professor Mohamed Gebril led a team of students to the first-ever BattleDrone competition, an exercise coordinated through the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative.

Learn about Mason's Cybersecurity Engineering Bachelor's

In April, Mason professor Mohamed Gebril (center in green) took a team of students to Commonwealth Cyber Initiative's BattleDrones Competition at Virginia Tech’s Drone Park. Photo by Peter Means/Virginia Tech

In April, Mohamed Gebril, an associate professor in George Mason University’s Cyber Security Engineering Department, took a team of students into “battle.” The team traveled to Blacksburg, Virginia, for a BattleDrones Competition that was hosted by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) at Virginia Tech’s Drone Park.

Gebril emphasized that the inaugural battle was not really a competition but a learning experience. CCI began working on this competition in 2020, but the pandemic halted its progress. This was the first time the event was held.

“It was not a competition per se. All the teams worked together to get this project off the ground,” said Gebril, who teaches in Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing. “CCI-VT ran into some issues with some of the computer vision tools, but overall it was a great learning experience.”

The main objective of the competition, according to Gebril, was to have student teams assemble their own drones with materials provided by CCI-VT research group, as well as promote interest in these kinds of activities among younger students.

For the competition, Gebril pulled together a team of Mason cyber security engineering majors interested in hands-on opportunities, which included senior Kylie Amison, senior Corrado Apostolakis, senior Brandon Henry, junior Casey Cho, sophomore Zaid Osta, and Mahmoud Zaghloul, an area high school student.

By all accounts, it was a successful trip.

“The team did really well,” Gebril said. “They were able to assemble the drone successfully. We are also working on continuing this project by adding cybersecurity features to enhance this learning experience.”

Will they compete again?

“Yes, indeed,” he said. “Our students love this project and how it applies concepts learned in classrooms toward this hands-on activity.”

CCI is a network of Virginia industry, higher education, and economic development partners dedicated to cybersecurity research, innovation, and workforce development. Mason leads the Northern Virginia Node of the network.

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Students

Department of Cyber Security Engineering

Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI)

College of Engineering and Computing

high-tech talent

Mason Momentum

Graduating senior Mitchell Martinez overcame challenges to reach new heights

Colleen Rich — Mon, 10 May 2021 14:34:35 +0000

Graduating senior Mitchell Martinez overcame challenges to reach new heights Colleen Rich Mon, 05/10/2021 - 10:34

Mitchell Martinez. Photo provided

“When you have the ability to do what you love, love what you do and have the ability to impact people. … That’s having a life of success.”

George Mason University’s Mitchell Martinez has never met former college football icon Tim Tebow, but the graduating senior couldn’t believe more in his definition of success.

That’s how Martinez, 22, also feels as he concludes an extraordinary career of collegiate achievement while at Mason and looks ahead to the next chapter of his life. Overcoming personal and financial hardships along the way, the cyber security engineering major from the Volgenau School of Engineering and Honors College student is poised to become the first in his family to earn an advanced degree and secure a high-paying job.

Martinez is already a cyber security engineer at CACI, where he began as an intern, and plans to eventually pursue a PhD in computer science.

“This might not seem as big of a deal to others,” he said, “but getting here as a Hispanic was not easy, and I want to make it easier for others.”

Working nearly full time since the beginning of his tenure at Mason, Martinez attended classes during the day before going straight to work until late at night and then staying up until the wee hours of the morning doing math homework before starting the day all over again.

Despite the frenetic schedule, he nonetheless found time to be involved socially in the Theta Tau Professional Engineering fraternity and seven intramural title-winning athletic teams. Martinez also spent a semester studying abroad in Switzerland prior to the global pandemic.

He found his passion and professional interest at CACI International Inc., a Northern Virginia-based firm that provides information technology and network solutions for the defense, intelligence and e-government sectors. Martinez has particular interest in offensive security, culminating in a year-long research project that focused on developing a cyberattack platform that can be mounted on working dogs. He then took his experiences to develop a sophisticated attack evasion tool for his senior design sponsor, Lockheed Martin Space.

“In this field, it is the goal of penetration testers and security developers to identify the weaknesses of systems—novel or complex—and work alongside engineers to not only prevent future attacks, but also optimize those systems for usability,” he said.

Martinez, who grew up in Lewis Center, Ohio, before eventually landing in Virginia with his family, attributed his competitiveness and his own innate curiosity for drawing him to computer security.

Martinez, who hopes to pursue a career in cybersecurity management and someday become a professor, credited his mentor Thomas Winston, an assistant professor for cyber security engineering within Volgenau, for having the greatest influence on him at Mason.

Winston called Martinez an “amazing person, with unbounded potential.”

“He was in many of my classes, always did an outstanding job and always showed the very best of student scholarship, motivation, drive and just overall interest,” Winston said of Martinez. “Honestly, I will likely remember Mitch for many years to come. He was a shining star in the cyber security program.”

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Graduate students will solve theoretical cyber crisis at competition

Nanci Hellmich — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 11:06:37 +0000

Graduate students will solve theoretical cyber crisis at competition Nanci Hellmich Wed, 02/19/2020 - 06:06

Massimiliano Albanese, an associate professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology, says the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge provides students with an incredible learning experience in cybersecurity.

Mason Engineering graduate students Munira Alqahtani and Abdulai Gad Swaray have been selected to compete in the Atlantic Council’s 2020 Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge on March 20-21 in Washington, D.C.

Both students, who are pursuing master’s degrees in applied information technology with cyber security concentrations, are part of the team fielded by the Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection (I3P), a national consortium of leading academic institutions, national laboratories, and non-profit research organizations.

The competition challenges students to respond to an international cyber-crisis scenario, analyze the threat it poses, and provide recommendations on the best course of action to mitigate the crisis. Students interact with expert mentors and high-level cyber professionals while developing valuable skills in policy analysis and presentation.

“Participating in the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge provides students with an incredible learning experience,” says Massimiliano Albanese, an associate professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology and Mason’s representative in the I3P.

“The competition challenges students to be critical thinkers and work collaboratively to solve a complex cyber problem under strict time and resource constraints. Over the last several years, the I3P team has consistently included Mason Engineering students, and in 2018 the I3P team was a semi-finalist," he says. "In today’s increasingly complex cyber world, it is critical for students to participate in similar extracurricular activities and gain hands-on experience that will help them tackle real-world problems."

Albanese says he’s grateful to David Balenson from SRI International, who has volunteered to coach the I3P team.

Cyber Security Engineering alum leads students to cybersolutions

Martha Bushong — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 20:12:03 +0000

Cyber Security Engineering alum leads students to cybersolutions Martha Bushong Mon, 11/04/2019 - 15:12

We all work to protect our personal information, but with today’s technology, our medical devices, such as insulin pumps, are more vulnerable than ever to cyber-attacks.

Inova Health information security analyst Matthew Wilkes, BS Cyber Security Engineering ’18, is guiding two cybersecurity senior design teams to find solutions to these new problems while preparing them for careers in the field. “These projects were created to challenge engineering students,” says Wilkes.

The teams are looking at different devices. One is examining insulin pumps, which are wirelessly connected to our phones while the other is looking at an infusion pump, which can be wirelessly adjusted. This pump controls the delivery of fluids, such as nutrients and medications, into patients’ bodies.

Both teams are tasked with finding vulnerabilities in these devices, pinpointing ways that cyber-attackers get into their devices, and coming up with different solutions to protect or monitor cyber-attacks.

“One big flaw that we predict is that insulin pumps now connect with your cell phones and that can be extremely exploitive. These products are designed for functionality, not security,” says Evan Simon, a cyber security major and member of the insulin pump team. And the same holds true for the infusion pump team.

Wilkes was a part of the first class of cybersecurity graduates from Mason Engineering, and he says it has been a fulfilling experience working with undergraduates at his alma mater. “The students are extremely intelligent, very interactive, and have shown a desire to succeed in the cybersecurity field. They’ve asked intriguing questions and have shown a desire to prove themselves.”

Both teams pointed to Wilkes as a crucial guide to navigate their first real-world cybersecurity project.

“He tries to push us in the right direction, but he wants us to come up with our own solutions to the problem,” says David Nguyen, a member of the infusion pump team.

Since this is new territory in the field, Wilkes wants to challenge the students to find the best solution so that they are prepared for careers in cybersecurity. “I want to ensure they’re encouraged to be successful in both their project and beyond. I won’t make it easy for them because if it was easy every student could do it,” says Wilkes. “Any student who graduates from Mason with a degree in cyber security engineering has very high expectations.”

Next semester the students will be working on implementing their research, designing their solutions, and testing them, which will pose challenges for both teams, but Wilkes stresses the importance of being prepared for challenges.

“We’re only human so we will make mistakes, but how do you learn from those mistakes? Have a backup plan if something goes wrong,” says Wilkes.

Hackathon participants solve real-world problems for real money

Nanci Hellmich — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 21:04:43 +0000

Hackathon participants solve real-world problems for real money Nanci Hellmich Thu, 10/24/2019 - 17:04

At Mason's PatriotHacks, about 300 students tackled problems in cybersecurity, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data science, sustainability, and automation.

It’s not often that college students have a chance to solve cybersecurity challenges, delve into data mining, and take a salsa dancing lesson over the same weekend.

But those who attended PatriotHacks, Mason’s second annual collegiate hackathon, did just that at the MIX@Fenwick, October 18 to 20.

About 300 students from Mason and several other universities tackled problems in machine learning, artificial intelligence, data science, sustainability, automation, and cybersecurity during the 36-hour event.

“I am impressed with all the innovative projects the students came up with,” says computer engineering senior and Honors College student Afnan Ali, co-organizer of PatriotHacks.

“The hackathon was about taking a challenge or problem, creating a solution, and hacking it together,” adds the event’s co-organizer Vijay Iyer, a senior majoring in neuroscience. “The hackers are the people who are putting projects together. It’s not about hacking into anything.”

The competition culminated with 45 projects for judges to evaluate.

Three Mason students who created a plan to improve the university’s Hydroponic Greenhouse won first place. Each member of the team received $350.

The students who did the greenhouse project “knocked it out of the park,” Iyer says. “They had solutions to every single thing that Mason’s Office of Sustainability asked for in the Hydroponic Greenhouse. They had blueprints for it. They made budgets for it. They knew what parts they needed, and they showed how it was completely implementable.”

“The hackathon gave students the opportunity to think outside the box, interact with industry experts, and work on real-world problems,” says faculty sponsor Kamaljeet Sanghera, associate professor and executive director for STEM Outreach for Mason Engineering.

CACI proposed a challenge on cybersecurity pen testing; GDIT on machine learning; the CoStar Group on data science.

Several other organizations offered challenges, including Informed XP, MetroStar Systems, White Ops, and Mason’s Office of Sustainability.

Besides doing projects, students participated in games, salsa dancing, and morning yoga.

Mason Competitive Cyber club places second in state competition

Nanci Hellmich — Tue, 26 Feb 2019 17:43:21 +0000

Mason Competitive Cyber club places second in state competition Nanci Hellmich Tue, 02/26/2019 - 12:43

Mason Competitive Cyber club won second place in the Commonwealth Cyber Fusion Competition 2019 last weekend at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia.

“We did a great job in an extremely tight competition. A lot of the challenges we did this year are similar to things we would do in the real world in our respective fields.”

— Michael Bailey, Mason Competitive Cyber president

The Mason Competitive Cyber club captured second place in the Commonwealth Cyber Fusion Competition 2019 over the weekend. The University of Virginia came in first.

George Mason University was one of 17 schools that competed in the invitation-only competition for Virginia community colleges and universities that are National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Security. The event was held at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia.

“We did a great job in an extremely tight competition,” says Mason Competitive Cyber president Michael Bailey, a senior majoring in IT. “A lot of the challenges we did this year are similar to things we would do in the real world in our respective fields.”

The intense four-hour competition involved solving a variety of complex cyber challenges designed to model real-world computer security challenges, including hacking into websites, performing reverse engineering on programs, wireless hacking, analyzing network traffic, and deciphering encrypted messages.

Other members of Mason’s team included Chris Issing, Zaine Wilson, Ammar Al-Kahfa, Paul Benoit, and Niki Carroll.

Mason’s observing student team members Andrew Oliveau and Connor Perkins placed first in their bracket in a parallel challenge.

“I am very proud of our Mason competitors,” says head coach Peggy Brouse, director of Mason’s bachelor of science in cyber security engineering program.

“It is especially rewarding that we had students from several programs within the Volgenau School of Engineering, including computer science, cybersecurity, and information technology. Thanks to the Mason Competitive Cyber club for being instrumental in preparing students for various cyber competitions. I look forward to next year.”

Assistant coach Jim Jones, an associate professor in the digital forensics and cyber analysis program in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, says of Mason's team: "These students combine deep technical knowledge, tool expertise, creative thinking, and teamwork to solve problems, precisely the skills employers are looking for."

The goal of the event, sponsored by the Virginia Cyber Range and Senator Mark R. Warner, is to develop the next generation of cybersecurity professionals in Virginia. Students participated in cyber challenges, learned from industry professionals, networked, and attended a cyber job fair.

Mason Engineering has 17 cyber-degree programs, including a first-of-its-kind bachelor of science in cyber security engineering, multiple master’s degrees in cybersecurity-related fields, graduate certificates in cybersecurity, and an interdisciplinary PhD in information technology with concentrations in information security and assurance as well as digital forensics.

“I am very proud of our Mason competitors. It is especially rewarding that we had students from several programs within the Volgenau School of Engineering, including computer science, cybersecurity, and information technology.

— Coach Peggy Brouse, director of Mason’s bachelor of science in cyber security engineering program.

"These students combine deep technical knowledge, tool expertise, creative thinking, and teamwork to solve problems, precisely the skills employers are looking for."

— Jim Jones, assistant coach and faculty advisor for Mason Competitive Cyber

Mason’s Pre-College Cybersecurity Program teaches high school students valuable lessons

Martha Bushong — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 19:01:46 +0000

Mason’s Pre-College Cybersecurity Program teaches high school students valuable lessons Martha Bushong Wed, 03/28/2018 - 15:01

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Major in Cybersecurity Engineering

“I had recently learned in my Pre-College Cybersecurity Program class (taught by Jay Gala, a teaching assistant at Mason) about the entire responsible disclosure process, to include the proper steps of how to contact the vendor of the affected product, coordinating patches to fix the vulnerability, and eventually requesting a CVE ID.”

Tyler Schroder

Tyler Schroder, a freshman at Centreville High School in Clifton, Virginia. says he has always been a huge fan of all types of technology. In middle school, a good friend of his discovered George Mason University’s Pre-College Cybersecurity Program and encouraged him to sign up for the program, which he did.

“I’ve been hooked on cybersecurity ever since,” says Schroder. “It’s a rapidly growing and developing field, continuously undergoing innovation and change.”

This year Schroder’s passion for cybersecurity paid big dividends when he made a Common Vulnerably Exposure (CVE)-type discovery that earned him a publication with corporate partner MITRE and a visit to one of Mason Engineering’s digital forensics classes.

“In mid-February I was working on my computer at home, and attempting to sign into a website,” Schroder says. “A password manager product I use to sign into the website, Abine Blur, has a feature that can send a second-factor request to your cellphone to make sure it’s actually you requesting to sign into the site. My cellphone was elsewhere in the house when I attempted to sign into the website, and rather than going to get my phone I decided first to see if I could find a quick way around the sign in requirement.” What he found was a vulnerability in the product that would expose user data to a hacker without sending the request.

Schroder credits his instructors at Mason for his knowledge of CVEs. He says they were the reason he knew that he had made a CVE-type discovery and what to do next.

When CVE was launched in 1999, security products varied and there was no easy way to determine when different databases were referring to the same problem.

CVE now provides an industry standard for vulnerability and exposure identifiers by providing reference points for data exchange so that cybersecurity products and services can speak with each other. CVE Entries also provide a baseline for evaluating the coverage of tools and services so that users can determine which tools are most effective and appropriate for their organization’s needs.

Schroder says, “I had recently learned in my Pre-College Cybersecurity Program class (taught by Jay Gala, a teaching assistant at Mason) about the entire responsible disclosure process, to include the proper steps of how to contact the vendor of the affected product, coordinating patches to fix the vulnerability, and eventually requesting a CVE ID.”

Armed with the knowledge about CVEs Schroder was able to work through the proper channels so that this vulnerability could be fixed. For his work, he earned the opportunity to present his findings to a digital forensics class of master’s students.

For Schroder it was an exciting experience and opportunity to share his findings with other like-minded individuals. “But what made it special,” he says “was the opportunity to present to an audience that was so much more experienced and educated than I was, in a field that I’d like to work in some day.”

After he completes the GMU Pre-College Cybersecurity program this summer, Schroder is looking forward to an internship opportunity in the cybersecurity field. After high school he plans on attending a four-year college and earn a bachelor’s degree with a major cybersecurity, followed by a career in cybersecurity. He also plans to get an advanced degree while working in the field.

About the Pre-College Cybersecurity Program
The Pre-College Cybersecurity program is a two-year program offered by Mason Engineering. It is broken into eight quarters of 10 classes each. The classes are taught on Saturdays at the school’s Fairfax campus.

Over the two years, students learn about Principles of Information Security, Fundamentals of Hardware & Software, Fundamentals of Networking, Security Awareness, Fundamentals of Cyber Security I-II, Ethics in Computing, Ethical Hacking I-III, Computer Forensics I-III, Penetration Testing, Incident Response and Disaster Recovery and Career Readiness. At the end of the two years, they complete an internship in the field of cybersecurity while still in high school.

The Mason Competitive Cyber club captures Commonwealth Cyber Cup at state competition

Nanci Hellmich — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 21:22:08 +0000

The Mason Competitive Cyber club captures Commonwealth Cyber Cup at state competition Nanci Hellmich Mon, 02/26/2018 - 16:22

Some of the challenges seem like the kind of stuff you’d see in movies, but they have real-world applications.

Mason Competitive Cyber president Michael Bailey

Mason was one of 13 schools that competed in the invitation-only Cyber Fusion Competition.

The Mason Competitive Cyber club won the 2018 Commonwealth Cyber Cup at a prestigious state competition last weekend.

Mason was one of 13 schools that competed in the invitation-only Cyber Fusion Competition for Virginia community colleges and universities that are National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Security. The event was held at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia.

The intense four-hour competition involved solving a variety of complex cyber challenges including hacking into websites, performing reverse engineering on programs, analyzing network traffic, and deciphering encrypted messages.

“Some of the challenges seem like the kind of stuff you’d see in movies, but they have real-world applications,” says Mason Competitive Cyber president Michael Bailey, a junior majoring in IT. Other members on the competition team were Ammar Al-Kahfah, Paul Benoit, Chuck Tran, Chris Issing, and Christopher Roberts.

It’s very rewarding when your group solves a complex problem, and you get points on the scoreboard, Bailey says. Mason Competitive Cyber was the only club that solved some of the problems.

The team went into the competition optimistic because Mason placed fourth last year. “This year we were much more deliberate about everything,” Bailey says.

Mason’s observing student group placed second in a parallel challenge. Those competing members were Doreen Joseph, Natalie Parke, Kang Xu, and Steve Zamory.

“We went into this to have fun, meet new people, and work as a team,” says head coach Peggy Brouse, director of the bachelor of science in cyber security engineering program at Mason. “I admit, though, that it was gratifying to win the competition. I am incredibly proud of all the Mason participants.”

She was impressed by the comradery and composure of all the teams. “It was a pleasure to meet people from all across the Commonwealth.”

Assistant coach Jim Jones, an associate professor in the digital forensics and cyber analysis program in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, says of Mason's team: "The students are self-driven. They teach themselves. They teach each other. They compete frequently. They use their wits, skills, and knowledge to solve problems they’ve never seen before.”

The goal of the event, co-hosted by Senator Mark R. Warner and Governor Ralph Northam, is to develop the next generation of cybersecurity professionals in Virginia. Students participated in cyber challenges, learned from industry professionals, networked, and attended a cyber job fair.

Mason Engineering has 17 cyber-degree programs, including a first-of its-kind bachelor of science in cyber security engineering, multiple master’s degrees and graduate certificates in cyber security, and an interdisciplinary PhD in information technology with concentrations in information security and assurance as well as digital forensics.

We went into this to have fun, meet new people, and work as a team. I admit, though, that it was gratifying to win the competition. I am incredibly proud of all the Mason participants.

Head coach Peggy Brouse

Mason Competitive Cyber club members participated in the intense four-hour competition, solving a variety of complex cyber challenges. Pictured here from left: Chris Issing, Chuck Tran, Christopher Roberts, Michael Bailey (center), Ammar Al-Kahfah, Paul Benoit.

The students are self-driven. They teach themselves. They teach each other. They compete frequently. They use their wits, skills, and knowledge to solve problems they’ve never seen before.

Assistant coach Jim Jones