Mohawk Valley Community College and Cyber Florida at the University of South Florida (USF) were selected to lead a $1.48 million effort to develop and launch a national cybersecurity competition designed to encourage newcomers to the field.
The effort will build upon MVCC’s previous work developing the CNY Hackathon, a CAE-C regional competition, and leverage Cyber Florida’s cloud-based computing platform, the Florida CyberHub, for national scalability. The project will develop and launch a national competition with support for up to 165 12-person teams (1,980 students) and infrastructure that includes a 24/7 sandbox environment with video tutorials to help students learn and practice, and training materials for faculty to support student development. Student competitors will have an opportunity to interact with potential employers, and faculty will build the capacity to recognize and develop future student cyber talent, through hands-on engagement with tutorials, videos, and exercises provided in the sandbox environment.
The program will be designed to welcome first-time competitors with challenges that span traditional technical skills as well as other, less technical but still relevant disciplines, such as crisis management, human resource management, and communications. The first year will focus on building a library of challenges with input from CAE-C institutions across the country, launching a training platform, and bolstering regional competitions to create a tournament framework that feeds the national competition, planned for May 2022.
Jake Mihevc, Dean of MVCC’s School of STEM – Transfer, said, “We at MVCC are excited to expand the CNY Hackathon regional collaboration to help serve cybersecurity students nationwide. Since 2013, the CNY Hackathon has been a volunteer effort that includes faculty, alumni, and industry professionals from across the Mohawk Valley and Central New York. We have seen first-hand how challenging students to defend computer systems from simulated attacks from malicious hackers within our virtual platform can enhance their skills and help them really engage with their coursework and become workforce-ready upon graduation.”
“Our nation is challenged by a critical cyber workforce shortage, and Cyber Florida is enthusiastic to partner with MVCC to create a fun and engaging pathway for students to learn about and participate in this thriving, vital industry,” said Cyber Florida Executive Director Mike McConnell, VADM, USN, Retired, former director of U.S. National Intelligence and the NSA.
The grant is funded by National Security Agency (NSA) through its National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (CAE-C) Program Management Office. The multi-year initiative will create a national competition framework to support and engage the 300+ institutions currently participating in the CAE-C program.
MVCC has been designated by the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security as the Regional Resource Center for the Northeast region of the United States. The mission of the Northeast Regional Resource Center is to perform outreach and build relationships with educational institutions in the region, as well as guide candidate colleges in the area on the path to designation as a CAE-CD institution. The College offers an A.S. degree in Cybersecurity, a one-year certificate in Cybersecurity, and GenCyber, a week-long summer program for high school faculty and students, to encourage interest in cybersecurity careers.
The Florida Center for Cybersecurity, also known as Cyber Florida, was created by the state in 2014 to help Florida become a national leader in cybersecurity education, research, and community outreach and engagement. Hosted by the University of South Florida, Cyber Florida works with all 12 institutions in Florida’s State University System as well as other dedicated partners from the private and nonprofit sectors; local, state, and federal government; and the U.S. military to achieve our mission.