In Search of Digital Tough Guys and Gals

After months of preparation and days of intense competition, a handful of student hackers participating in the 9th annual Cyber Security Awareness Week games at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) will take on one final challenge: the Security Quiz Tournament. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the tournament is a fast-paced trivia game testing participants’ knowledge of security subjects ranging from cryptography and digital forensics to hardware and history.

Open to all high school, undergraduate and graduate students whether or not they are participating in CSAW, the DHS Security Quiz Tournament is the last game in of one of the world’s premier educational cyber security events. Students must register to participate in the DHS Security Quiz Tournament.

DHS is a longtime supporter and active participant in the CSAW games. “DHS is a strong presence throughout CSAW, and our partnership has brought tremendous value to the students who come to compete on campus,” said Nasir Memon, founder of CSAW and professor of computer science and engineering at NYU-Poly. “Over the years, DHS has provided judges for various CSAW challenges, hosted lectures on security subjects for attendees and provided outstanding opportunities for our students at the CSAW Career Fair.”

CSAW is a three-day conference and competition comprised of seven computer security challenges for high school, undergraduate and graduate students. Thousands of competitors participate online and hundreds of students and leaders in the computer security field converge on NYU-Poly’s Brooklyn campus for the CSAW finals.

The CSAW games are November 15-17, 2012 on the NYU-Poly campus in Downtown Brooklyn’s MetroTech Center.  For more information about CSAW, visit engineering.nyu.edu/csaw2012.

NYU-Poly was one of the first universities to introduce a cyber security program, and is designated as both a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education and a Center of Academic Excellence in Research by the National Security Agency.  The Sloan Consortium named NYU-Poly’s virtual graduate cyber security program the Outstanding Online Program of 2011. The Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Security and Privacy (CRISSP), a cutting-edge research collaboration of NYU-Poly and other NYU schools, re-examines the entire cyber security paradigm to integrate technology with broader issues such as human psychology, business, public policies and law.