While universities and community colleges have visited campus for ISU’s Cyber Defense Competitions, the organization is now making software used in the competitions available to those institutions.
The competitions include two teams, one made up of students who attempt to create computer networks and one made of industry professionals and graduate students, that attempt to hack into those networks.
The competitions are hosted through the university system Internet-Scale Event and Attack Generation Environment (ISEAGE), which creates a virtual Internet space for students to build their networks.
The university has now completed ISERink, a smaller version of the software available for other schools.
“ISERink is available to all high schools in the state, but they come to the one at Iowa State so they don’t have to have their own equipment,” said Doug Jacobson, university professor of electrical and computer engineering.
“The people interested in this software are community colleges and other universities.”
The university hosts roughly 600 students each year in cyber defense competitions, which have included 25 non-high school competitions and 10 high school competitions. Jacobson said the conversation about releasing the software began a few years ago after other schools approached ISU about having access.
Since then, the software has already been used by Oklahoma State University, Iowa Western Community College and the Iowa National Guard. Jacobson said an additional six or seven universities also recently received access, but have not yet had a chance to use it.
As for ISU’s competitions, Jacobson said he expects to host the same amount of competitions throughout the year. But by giving access to the software, he said other schools now have an opportunity to make their own competitions, classes and trainings.
“The real goal is so they can run their own,” he said. “We use the competition as a teaching tool, so this really opens it up for them to enhance their programs.”
©2015 the Ames Tribune, Iowa
