CybersecurityHundreds of cyber specialists to compete at NetWars Tournament of Champions
SANS Institute’s NetWars Tournament of Champions will be held in Washington, D.C., in mid-December. Hundreds of the brightest security professionals from around the world will compete with each other in order to determine who has the best skills in tackling cyber security challenges.
NetWars tournament is expected to draw hundreds of competitors // Source: uchicago.edu
Hundreds of cybersecurity professionals will compete at the second annual NetWars Tournament of Champions on 15 -16 December 2013 in Washington, D.C. Host by the SANS Institute, the tournament is a gathering of the brightest security professionals who compete with each other in order to determine who has the best skills in tackling cybersecurity challenges. “A lot of organizations, especially government agencies, are saying they no longer need any more policy people, favoring instead hands-on technical skills,” Ed Skoudis, director of NetWars, told Nextgov. “Declining budgets are putting a strain on training, so we provide a different mode of learning by doing as opposed to getting lectured.”
Participants in the tournament will compete in mock environments that test defensive, offensive, and analytic cyber skills as well as participants’ ability to fight intruders while trying to take over target systems and networks. The first Tournament of Champions in 2012 included more than 150 security professionals from around the world. The Belgian Defense Force and U.S. military received top honors.
SANS Institute expects more participants this year due to increasing interests from federal agencies in the United States and the U.S military. “To add to the challenge, over a hundred new participants will play alongside past champions, building their own skills, testing their mettle and seeing if they have what it takes to be the next NetWars champion,” Skoudis said.
NetWars incorporates gamification into tournament challenges to provide a competitive approach to hands-on learning that allows participants to test their skills and discover their weak points or new skills and methods. Participants are issued scorecards that rate their level of defensive, offensive, and analytic cybersecurity skills.
“The cybersecurity field needs people with hands-on skills, the hunters who can find the flaws before the bad guys do,” Skoudis told Nextgov. “The idea with NetWars is to provide the hands-on skills in defense, analytics and offense, answering the question of what a really awesome person would need to know. We built it with the ideal candidate for a cyber defender and warrior in mind, and that’s something participants strive for.”
The tournament will coincide with the SANS Cyber Defense Initiative.
