Calling all U.S. undergraduate and graduate students, it's that time again. On September 15, the National Security Agency will launch the fifth Codebreaker Challenge.
Every day the National Security Agency faces difficult tasks, we solve them with a workforce devoted to the mission of protecting and defending our nation. Do you have what it takes to mastermind solutions for hard-hitting problems? This year's challenge will give students the opportunity to construct viable solutions for similar, yet fictitious, tasks. The Codebreaker Challenge participant's mission is to crack our code. Are you game?
This year's Codebreaker Challenge scenario has a new component, it focuses on NSA assisting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with investigating an intrusion into a critical infrastructure system. To succeed, participants must perform network analysis and forensics to hone in on the intrusion, perform vulnerability analysis to identify how attackers get into the system and reverse engineer the malicious code that was found in the network.
Codebreaker Challenge participants can download and track University progress real-time on the leaderboard website.
Andrew, NSA Codebreaker Challenge program manager, says, "The Codebreaker Challenge is a great way for students to improve their applied computer security skills in a competitive environment. The problems that the participants will solve are designed to closely resemble real world challenges that NSA must overcome on a daily basis to carry out its offensive and defensive missions."
Register and find out if you have what it takes to win the 2017 Codebreaker Challenge.