Midwest cybersecurity event to be hosted at Moraine Valley

Moraine Valley Community College is back to hosting the Erich J. Spengler Midwest Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (MWCCDC), March 17 to 18, in Building T on campus, 9000 W. College Parkway, Palos Hills.

The Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance (CSSIA) at Moraine Valley has previously hosted state and regional competitions using its Virtualization Data Center, which has 192 servers that students can virtually log on to. This unique cyber lab supports these competitions and allows more teams to compete and do so off campus.

CCDCs are structured contests that help college students develop their cybersecurity skills in simulated environments. During the competition, student teams are charged with protecting a mock commercial network infrastructure against a team comprised of professional computer hackers within a limited timeframe. Another team, made up of the judges, acts as the business administration, deploying various upgrade assignments and network enhancements to the student teams.

Students from Southern Illinois University, DePaul University, Baldwin-Wallace College, Davenport University, Drury University, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, Purdue University, University of Louisville, University of Wisconsin-Stout and Indiana Institute of Technology, all top and wildcard groups that placed at the state competitions, have been preparing for months and will head to Palos Hills in hopes of qualifying for the national contest April 28 to 30.

CSSIA manages the MWCCDC and provides resources and support for all Midwest CCDC events. Not only do they prepare students for future careers in cybersecurity, but act as a recruiting tool for companies looking for potential employees.

Event sponsors include Raytheon Technologies, Palo Alto Networks, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Battelle and Fortra.