Stephanie Steiner | Arts & Life Editor
On Saturday, April 11, the Computer Science program at Buena Vista University (BVU) hosted their third annual “Capture the Flag” computer security hacking contest. This event is not only unique because of its connecting concepts and real-world applications, but also because it is the only one in the nation specifically for college students.
For a full eight hours, teams from the Midwest to the West Coast – BVU, Whitworth University, Northwestern University, and Taylor University – attacked and defended against one another. They were given the task to find loopholes in the code on their server, and then to patch those vulnerabilities before other teams hacked them. If a team hacked another’s server, they would steal the “flag” code from that team and gain points.
Dr. Nathan Backman, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at BVU, implemented this contest three years ago. When it had great success, it proved to serve as a mentoring opportunity among Computer Science majors while simultaneously testing their knowledge and skills.
“The contest is an exercise and it’s meant to be an educational one. It’s a learning experience and it’s all about computer security. Specifically, writing good, safe code,” Backman said. “Our Computer Science majors will graduate and go get jobs at banks, hospitals, trucking companies and other various places writing software that makes things work. Whoever they’re writing their software for is entrusting them with a lot of information.”
Senior Computer Science major Arik Ostler participated in this contest and has great enthusiasm about the benefits of it, such as increased relationships with other Computer Science majors at BVU as well as around the world. He is particularly appreciative about the outcome of the contest despite the wide range of different skill sets among participants. Ostler also sees the competition as a major challenge and a test of the skills they acquire in their area of study.
“Everything is moving so fast as you come from a point of not knowing anything about your own server. You have to patch. You have to hack. You have to keep your services up and running. You have to run exploits each round,” Ostler said. “Meanwhile, everyone else wants to get the upper hand over you and they tend to put obstacles in your way to slow you down while stealing your points.”
To coincide with the challenge of the event, Backman hopes that first year students can get a chance to connect with the older, experienced students in their major.
“We’re trying to foster a cool culture of camaraderie while getting new students plugged in and mentored by their junior and senior peers,” Backman said.
This culture is thriving and has spread further than simply fostering connections within the Computer Science program at BVU; the contest is continuously growing each year. This year, out of the 14 teams, BVU placed second, along with one team from each university placing in the top five.
“So often we do our homework on our own for a grade. We sit at desks and write our papers or our code or whatever the case may be. It is very awesome to mix things up a bit and go to competitions,” Ostler said. “We aren’t competing for our grades or anything, but now we get to see how we rank among other students in our field and meet people we never would have met otherwise.”
Photo courtesy of BVU University Marketing & Communications
