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TMCNet:  Cyber security teams from across Northeast face off at UMaine this weekend

[March 06, 2013]

Cyber security teams from across Northeast face off at UMaine this weekend

Mar 06, 2013 (Bangor Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- ORONO, Maine -- The University of Maine will come under attack Friday, with only teams of computer science students left to defend it.

Ten teams will compete in the three-day 2013 regional Northeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition at UMaine's Neville Hall. They will be tasked with defending against computer hacking attempts devised by national cybersecurity professionals, including some with military and corporate computing experience, according to George Markowsky, organizer of the event and associate director of the UMaine School of Computing and Information Science.

"We have some great hackers involved," Markowsky said. "They're scrimmaging against some serious people." Teams competing include UMaine, Alfred State College in Alfred, N.Y., Champlain College in Burlington, Vt., Northeastern University in Boston, Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y., SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Institute of Technology in Rome, N.Y., Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y., Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the University of New Hampshire.

WIth the shift of commerce and banking to the Internet, cybersecurity skills are becoming increasingly important, Markowsky said, and competitions such as this put what future defenders of data learn to the test.

UMaine hosted the regional competition in 2010, when it placed second. Rochester Institute of Technology started the competition in 2008.

Competition events are scheduled from 1:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. A short cybersecurity conference featuring presentations by competitors and vendors, as well as information about job and internship opportunities in the industry, will be held during the competition.

To register for the conference or observe the competition, email Markowsky at markov@maine.edu.

More information about the competition may be found at neccdc.net/wordpress.

___ (c)2013 the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine) Visit the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine) at www.bangordailynews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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