\u201cI\u2019ve been interested in programming and computers since I first got access to them as a kid,\u201d says Whitehead of Lake Mary, Florida. \u201cThis eventually led me into cyber security specifically, which to me was far more exciting than programming. It is a fascinating field that brings together concepts as different as abstract algebra, which is vital in modern cryptography, and management processes that ensure that programmers write secure code.\u201d<\/p>\n
The International Cyber Security Challenge will be hosted by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The International Cyber Security Challenge will be hosted by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity as a part of a promotion to raise awareness about cybersecurity. The U.S. team selection is being overseen by the company Katzcy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce.<\/p>\n
In this first virtual round from his home, Whitehead says he had to solve a variety of problems, such as finding and exploiting vulnerabilities in websites, breaking encryption systems to read hidden messages, reverse engineering software, and analyzing a forensic copy of a mobile phone. \u201cThe big challenge was completing these challenges as fast as possible, since it was a race to see who would complete them all first and lock in the top places,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
In the next round of tests, Nedorost says the U.S. Cyber Games head coach will put the competitors through a series of challenges to further assess their knowledge and skills before selecting 20 for the first U.S. Cyber Team.<\/p>\n
Whitehead\u2019s sister, Caitlin, also studying for her master\u2019s in digital forensics, finished in the top 20 of the recent competition. Nedorost says she likely would be invited to compete in the next round, too.<\/p>\n
Whitehead says much of his competition success is because of the mentoring and assistance of many of the students and alumni at the Hack@Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ club on campus. He encourages anyone interested in competing or learning more about cyber security to join the club.<\/p>\n
Nedorost says that since the U.S. Cyber Games is a new competition this year, he had very little information to share with students about how to prepare.<\/p>\n
\u201cI simply forwarded an email advertisement promoting the U.S. Cyber Games to Hack@Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ club members and encouraged students to register if they wanted to compete,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Whitehead says \u201cto do well in competitions, you have to compete in competitions, and that often includes losing. While I don\u2019t always do well, I always learn something new that I can take into the next competition.\u201d<\/p>\n
After graduation planned for 2024, Whitehead says he\u2019d like to start his own cyber security firm, perhaps with a focus on digital forensics incident response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cameron Whitehead places 2nd<\/sup> in opening round of qualifying for the inaugural national team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":121126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,24],"tags":[11806,36030,1646,41520,11768],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-121115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-science-technology","tag-cybersecurity","tag-digital-forensics","tag-faculty","tag-hackucf","tag-tom-nedorost"],"yoast_head":"\nDigital Forensics Student on Pace to be on 1st U.S. Cyber Team | Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ News<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n