Moraine Valley to Host Cyber Defense Competition

The Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance at Moraine Valley Community College is hosting the Illinois Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition on Saturday, Feb. 19.

This will be the first time Moraine Valley hosts the state event using its new Virtualization Data Center, which has 192 servers that students can virtually log onto for competitions.

The all-day event starts at 10 a.m. in Building T on campus, 9000 W. College Pkwy., Palos Hills.

CSSIA focuses on cyber security education programs at the secondary and post-secondary levels.

Competitions are held across the Midwest, and the top two winners of each state qualify for the regional event, March 25-26, also at Moraine Valley, where students will face each other in person. The regional winners advance to nationals, April 8-10, in Texas.

These contests pit student teams against various professionals within the cyber security field and are designed to test each student team’s ability to secure a networked computer system while maintaining standard business functionality.

Students from Moraine Valley, Lake Land College, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, DeVry University at Chicago, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois State University, DePaul University and Joliet Junior College will participate on Feb. 19. Southern and Lake Land will compete virtually while the other colleges will vie on campus.