Grand Canyon Times

University of Advancing Technology issued the following announcement on Oct. 11

University of Advancing Technology is excited to announce that eight of our students earning cyber security degrees will be competing in the 2019 Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition (CPTC) Regionals event October 11-13th. Although UAT's on-ground campus is physically located in Tempe, Arizona, our cyber security students have been invited to compete with the Northeastern Regional group hosted at Penn State University.

The UAT students that have earned their position at the Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition this year include: James Rogers (Captain), Jackson Nestler (Co-Captain), Karina Salkin (Member), Robert O’Connor (Member), Jordan Nutt (Member), Jace Alexander (Member), David Austad (Alternate), Elijah McKay (Alternate), along with their coach, Professor Mason Galatas.

This will be UAT's first-time competing at this particular event but the private tech university's students have been participating in the sister series for years, the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC), where students showcase their network security defense skills. Both events are designed to provide students with real-world scenarios to better prepare them for a high-in-demand career in the field of Cyber Security. 

ABOUT THE COLLEGIATE PENETRATION TESTING COMPETITION (CPTC) 

Participants at the CPTC will need to demonstrate how to effectively identify, mitigate, and resolve critical security vulnerabilities in a professional environment from an offensive approach. Throughout the event, students will practice building and honing their network engineering skills while attempting simulated cyber-attacks on a fictional organization's defense systems. 

The method of penetration testing (also known as pen testing, ethical hacking, or the red hat strategy) is often considered the more challenging approach in the network security field because of the extensive creativity and aggressive strategy required to discover all the ways a cyber security breach could be performed on any particular subject. 

All CPTC competitors will be judged on three categories including technology, communication, and collaboration. Competitors must prove their technical knowledge and ability to spot weakness in a simulated corporate environment without impacting the operations of simulated business activities. They must also demonstrate their ability to communicate deeply technical concepts to technical and non-technical audiences. Lastly, they have to prove they can work strategically within the allotted time, and collectively, to bring together unique skillsets to achieve success for their team. 

HOW DOES THIS EVENT DIRECTLY PREPARE UAT STUDENTS FOR A CAREER IN CYBER SECURITY? 

The CPTC competition is an incredible opportunity for UAT's cyber students to gain new insights while being in an external learning space, observe other students' skills and ways of thinking, as well as practice their own innovative techniques. 

Participants will also have the potential opportunity to be observed by the influential industry experts and well-known sponsors that may be in attendance including: IBM, Google Cloud, EATON, FireEye, Crowe Horwath, UBER, Hurricane Labs, NCC group, IEEE Cyber Security, indeed, RIT, SE Computing Security, and other attending businesses looking for future talent or internship recruits. 

WHY IS THIS COLLEGIATE CYBER SECURITY COMPETITION IMPORTANT TO THE INDUSTRY?

Due to the significant rise in security breaches over the last few years, organizations of all sizes are beefing up their cyber security strategies and pen testing is considered a necessary component of a strong defense. Some businesses even open up cyber security feedback loops, offering rewards to anyone associated with the organization or not, that can identify and inform the organization of the errors their security system may have. This strategy will continue to become increasingly important for businesses to practice to be able to consistently secure customer data and information systems as well as prevent any future breaches from occurring in our rapidly developing and technologically advancing society. 

The world, individuals and businesses alike, are in a desperate need for innovative cyber security professionals and University of Advancing Technology is proud to offer four degree programs for various cyber security studies to fill the gap in today’s cyber prevention workforce.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF ADVANCING TECHNOLOGY'S CYBER SECURITY DEGREE PROGRAMS 

UAT's prestigious cyber security degrees include the undergraduate majors of Network Security, Network Engineering, Technology Forensics, and the elite Master's Degree in Information Assurance (Cyber Security) that are each transporting graduates to the leading edge of the industry.

UAT’s cyber security degree majors and cyber security lab are recognized by industry and government entities alike for their ability to help generate the future innovators of the cyber security industry. We focus on creating true leaders who will have mastery in ethical hacking and uphold the highest industry standard of integrity in our quickly evolving world of cyber security tech and online security. 

Leading cyber security education in the southwest, University of Advancing Technology (UAT) is marking 20 successful years since the inception of its elite Network Security degree program. As one of the longest-running cyber security degrees in the southwest, our complete continuum of undergraduate and graduate cyber security degrees have helped prepare more graduates with a NSA and CAE-credentialed education than any other university’s cyber security program in the southwest. 

WHAT COMES AFTER THE CPTC? 

The CPTC National competition will take place in November in Rochester, NY for the winning teams from the 2019 Regionals. We wish our UAT Cyber Security Degree students the best of luck this weekend! 

Interested in cyber security or earning a degree in technology from a 100% STEM University? Select the degree that's interesting to you and request information here! Or, if you're not sure what you want to study but you love tech, reach out to admissions@uat.edu to schedule a private consultation to learn about our university, majors, and how you can graduate in less than 3 years online or at UAT's state-of-the-art campus. Unleash your potential at UAT!here.