Baker College of Flint IT students
win 2nd National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition

(FLINT, MICHIGAN, APRIL 29, 2009) For the second year in a row Baker College of Flint Information Technology students successfully defended their title as reigning National Collegiate Cyber Defense Champions. The National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) held April 17-19, 2009, in San Antonio, Texas, pitted Baker College of Flint students against Texas A&M and six other prestigious colleges and universities from around the country. Read the article from The Flint Journal.

Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce photo Baker College's Cyber Defense Champions pose with Tim Herman, Regional Chamber CEO (far left), advisors Van Scott (center holding trophy) and Morris Fulcher (second from right) and Dr. Julianne T. Princinsky (far right), Baker College of Flint president.

Baker College of Flint was one of 65 schools competing this year. They were one of eight teams to compete nationally after winning the Midwest Regional competition in March. The competition centered on real-life information technology tasks related to managing and protecting an existing network infrastructure.

“We couldn’t be more delighted,” said Julianne T. Princinsky, E.D., Baker College of Flint President. “The hard work and determination demonstrated by these students was nothing short of impressive.”

The Baker College of Flint team included: Brandon Hladysh, team captain, Ryan Noblett, James Olson, Matt Wheatley, Larry Hubbard, Eric Ignash, Tommy Hamilton and Rory Gallagher. The teams were assigned an operational network from a fictional business and given one hour to become familiar with the assigned system and to begin security updates and patches before fighting off cyber assaults from “red team” hackers. Each team was scored on their ability to defend against attacks, correct network problems and perform routine information technology tasks. Baker earned the high score!

 “These students worked extremely hard and deserve a lot of credit for rising to this difficult challenge,” Van Scott, Cyber Defense Team Advisor and Computer Information Systems instructor at Baker College of Flint. “Competition organizers were very impressed with our team’s performance. Also, as a result of performance and participation, some team members have positive leads on prestigious internships in Washington, D.C.”

CCDC is the first cyber defense competition allowing teams of full-time collegiate students from across the country to apply their information assurance and technology education in a competitive environment. The competitions focus on business operations and incorporate the operational aspect of managing and protecting an existing “commercial” network infrastructure. Students also have the opportunity to network with industry professionals and discuss many of the security and operational challenges they will face when they enter the job market.

During the competition simulation students are “hired” as the network and security administrators at a small company. They enter the job knowing very little about the network, what security level has been maintained or what software has been installed. Even as they fend off cyber attacks, the students must keep up with the needs of the business and user demands while maintaining service level agreements for all critical Internet services.

The CCDC also allows educational institutions to assess students’ depth of understanding and operational competency in managing the challenges inherent in protecting an enterprise network infrastructure and business information systems.

For more information about Baker College, check out their Web site at www.baker.edu.

From the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce's May 2009 Inside Business publication.