Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

High School Students to Challenge Computer Security at Iowa State Competition

 

Contacts:
Doug Jacobson, ECpE professor, (515) 294-8307
Dana Schmidt, ECpE communications specialist, (515) 294-3071

Ames, Iowa – Students from 18 Iowa high schools will come to Iowa State University this weekend to compete in the second High School Cyber Defense Competition. Teams of six to eight students will stay up all night and try to protect a computer network from hackers.

The competition begins 7 p.m. Friday, May 18, and will last until 10 a.m. Saturday May 19, in Iowa State’s Internet-Scale Event and Attack Generation Environment (ISEAGE), located at the ISU Research Park in Ames. The contest allows high school students to explore information security issues in a fun, interactive, and safe environment.

This year, students from the following high schools are participating:

• Ames DMACC Center
• Cedar Falls High School
• City High School (Iowa City)
• Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School
• Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School
• Cedar Rapids Prairie High School
• Clinton High School
• Des Moines Central Campus
• Iowa City West High School
• Mt. Vernon Community Schools
• Muscatine High School
• Newton High School
• NTICA-Tucker Center (Council Bluffs)
• Price Lab/NU High School (Cedar Falls)
• Southeast Warren Community Schools
• Urbandale High School
• Valley High School (West Des Moines)
• Waterloo West High School
  

Doug Jacobson, professor of electrical and computer engineering, started the competition in 2005 to educate Iowa teenagers about information assurance and the growing need for IT professionals with this kind of knowledge.

According to ISEAGE, some of the best paying jobs in the nation are in IT areas. The demand for IT professionals continues to grow—particularly in the financial and business services, insurance, health care, and manufacturing industries.

The High School Cyber Defense Competition is sponsored by ACT Inc., Farm Bureau Financial Services, FBL Financial Group, Genova Technologies, Hy-Vee, InfraGard, the Iowa Department of Economic Development, Iowa State's Information Assurance Center, Iowa State's Information Assurance Student Group Association, Palisade Systems, Principal Financial Group, QCI, Rockwell Collins, RSM McGladrey, the Technology Association of Iowa, Union Pacific, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the University of Northern Iowa.

-30-  

---