Mount Si High School’s Siber Defense club takes fourth in international Capture the Flag, aims for state competition in CyberPatriot challenge

November 22, 2017 3:08 pm
Members of the Mount Si High School Siber Defense club work on a school Capture the Flag competition in November. The team recently learned they placed fourth among the U.S. school teams competing in the international event. (Courtesy Photo)
Members of the Mount Si High School Siber Defense club work on a school Capture the Flag competition in November. The team recently learned they placed fourth among the U.S. school teams competing in the international event. (Courtesy Photo)

The Siber Defense Club at Mount Si High School placed fourth among the 23 U.S. teams competing in an online cyber security “Capture The Flag” competition the weekend of Nov. 4 and 5.

The school competition is conducted annually by the University of Tomsk in Siberia, Russia. Because it takes place live — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Moscow time — the Mount Si team, only three members for the competition this year, began competing at 11 p.m. Saturday Nov. 4, and finished at 5 a.m. Sunday Nov. 5, including the time change overnight for the end of Daylight Savings Time. The contest consists of a series of challenges in cryptography, reverse engineering, websites, steganography, and passwords.

Despite its small size, the Mount Si team beat out many other international and U.S. teams with up to seven members. Congratulations go to Aayush Singh, Ben Schumacher, and Kian Cooney for their performance in this contest.

The club fielded two teams in another event, the CyberPatriot contest put on by the Air Force Association. Both teams finished Round 1 with good scores, and hope to qualify for state competition after Round 2 Dec. 8

The Siber Defense Club participates in several other contests during the school year against both high school and university students. The club is open to all interested Snoqualmie Valley School District high school students.

Members learn basic and advanced cyber security defense and offense techniques involving computer systems and networks, competewith other high schools across the U.S. and world during the school year, teach friends and family about how to protect their smartphones, laptops, and home networks against malicious hackers, and go on field trips to the University of Washington and the annual PRCCDC competition at Highline College.

The club meets weekly after school, 2:30 to 4 p.m. on Thursdays 2:30-4:00 in the school library. There is no fee and no prior experience is required. Participants should bring their own laptops. For more information, contact the club mentors at siberdefenseclub@svsd410.org or come to a meeting.