{"id":7619,"date":"2015-10-15T19:56:50","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T19:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=7619&post_type=story"},"modified":"2023-11-20T20:52:18","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T20:52:18","slug":"hacking-d-c","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/hacking-d-c\/","title":{"rendered":"Hacking D.C."},"content":{"rendered":"
Fall 2015 <\/em>|By Mike Candelaria, ’83<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n [lead]In April the Collegiate Cyber Defense Club @ Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½, also known\u00a0as Hack@Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½<\/a>, won their second consecutive championship<\/a> at the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. As\u00a0a reward, the team and their faculty adviser were treated to a\u00a0VIP tour<\/a> of cyber security organizations and other landmarks\u00a0in and around Washington, D.C., July 28\u201330. The visit, hosted by competition sponsor Raytheon, included private guided tours of places few U.S. citizens are allowed, such as the U.S. Secret Service James J. Rowley Training Center and the National Security Agency\/Central Security Service National Threat Operations Center. For the aspiring cyber defense professionals, the experience offered a glimpse into their future careers.<\/p>\n Here\u00a0are the highlights:[\/lead]<\/p>\n [divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n \u201cMy highlight was talking with members of [President] Obama\u2019s executive board. It was great to represent the perspective of young people. … We were treated pretty special. People really feel like Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ has some crazy cyber talent. They all think we\u2019re going to repeat [the national championship] again.\u201d [divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n \u201cNot only were we invited inside, but we also got a sneak peak of some of the fascinating projects. … We definitely had time to share our ideas on cyber-related issues. We also had a very engaging discussion with Raytheon about why students might be driven more toward the private sector before considering [a career] in the public sector, based on our own experiences in being recruited. … Here we were talking\u00a0with a huge defense contractor about how our government could improve recruiting efforts to obtain great talent, fresh eyes and brilliant ideas directly from our nation\u2019s colleges and universities.\u201d [divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n [photo id=”7899″ title=”Hack@Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ teammates Alex Davis and Andres Giron-Arias” alt=”Hack@Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ teammates Alex Davis and Andres Giron-Arias” width=”100%”][\/photo]<\/p>\n Image courtesy of Raytheon<\/span><\/p>\n On their summer victory tour, Hack@Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ teammates Alex Davis and Andres Giron-Arias take selfies in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room during a White House West Wing tour.<\/span><\/p>\n [divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity\u00a0that many of our team members and I have been able to do twice. We went on tours the general public isn\u2019t able to go on. We were only there about an hour and a half. I really wished we could have stayed six hours, looking at all the exhibits. Everything possible in the history of cryptology is captured there \u2014 encoding\u00a0in World Wars I and II, obviously before computers. The exhibits go all the way up to the Internet challenges of today.\u201d [divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we went to the National Threat Operations Center, we were told it was the first and only unclassified briefing ever given at that office. … Everywhere we went it was impressed upon us how critical cyber security is to the security of the United States. Not just to the military \u2014 to all people. It\u2019s a major economic problem, and going forward, [it] will be a physical problem because everything has a computer in it.\u201d [divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n \u201cMy biggest surprise was seeing someone in a Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ hat. He turned out to be a Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ grad. It made the world feel pretty small. … No name-divulging. What happens in D.C. stays in D.C.\u201d<\/em>White House, Washington, D.C.<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n<\/em>\u2014 Kevin Diclemente, \u201915<\/span><\/p>\nNational Security Agency Headquarters, Fort Meade, Maryland<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n<\/em>\u2014 Jason Cooper, \u201915<\/span><\/p>\nNational Cryptologic Museum, Annapolis Junction, Maryland<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n<\/em>\u2014 Tom Nedorost, Hack@Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ Faculty Adviser<\/span><\/p>\nNSA\/CSS National Threat Operations Center, Washington, D.C.<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n<\/em>\u2014 Shane Welch, Âé¶¹Ó³»´«Ã½ Information Technology Program<\/a> Junior<\/span><\/p>\nU.S. Secret Service James J. Rowley Training Center, Laurel, Maryland<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n\u2014 Kevin Diclemente<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7982,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[148,1425],"class_list":["post-7619","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-college-of-engineering-and-computer-science","tag-cyberdefense","issues-520","issues-fall-2015"],"yoast_head":"\n