Security dawgs to impress at regionals
March 05, 2014,
The Security Dawgs will continue to protect systems and their reputations at the Midwest Regional Cyber Defense competition.
The SIU Security Dawgs are bound for regionals after their win at the state competition on Feb. 15. This was their second consecutive win and sixth title overall.
Tom Imboden, assistant professor of Information Systems Technologies and coach to the SIU Security Dawgs said the team will not receive compensation for winning, but employers are influenced by students’ abilities in competitions.
“We don’t receive any funding for winning these competitions, but students do have the reward of displaying their skills before employers from large companies,” Imboden said. “These employers want resumes from competing students before the competition and then watch each individual perform to see if they have potential to be hired.”
Imboden said military-civilian organizations, government organizations and consulting firms were present at past competitions to look at competitor’s skills.
“I don’t know who will be there this year, but in the years past we have seen large companies sit in on the competitions and that can help a student’s performance as well as job opportunities in their future,” he said.
The Security Dawgs help local non-profit businesses with their security and any student is welcome to join, Imboden said.
“We can only have eight students actually compete but any student is welcome to meetings,” he said. “We don’t have students help the University with their security issues but we do help local non-profit businesses.”
Imboden said students who have issues with security on their laptops, tablets or computers should be aware of what sites they use.
“Students should be skeptical about what sites they are using and how legitimate the site is,” he said. “A lot of students end up with viruses just from sites they did not realize had opened with other sites.”
Imboden said students should also be alert on their operating systems updates. He said Adobe and Flash are the two popular ones students tend to forget.
The Security Dawgs will be at the Midwest Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition March 28-29 at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills. They will compete against teams from Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.
The first-place team in the Midwest will compete in the eighth annual National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, April 25-27, in San Antonio, Texas.