By Gwendolyn Schanker

In March 2017, six Northeastern undergraduates and two graduate students traveled to Rochester, New York to compete in the Northeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NECCDC). It’s a longstanding tradition for CCIS students who want to practice their skills in cybersecurity.

During the competition, teams from 10 schools across the Northeast work to protect a computer system against attacking hackers, which are known as the “red team.” It’s a fast-paced, three-day event that is an exercise in time management as much as it is in cyber defense skills.

“They pack about three months of work into three days,” said team captain Alex Interrante-Grant. “Dealing with the attackers over such a short time is a lot of pressure, but it’s also a lot of fun.”

This year, Northeastern’s team placed second at the regional competition behind the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), while third place went to University at Buffalo.

For Interrante-Grant, who has participated in NECCDC for all four years he has been at Northeastern and has served as captain for three years, the competition is an opportunity to explore the defensive side of cybersecurity.

“Cybersecurity research is a passion of mine,” said Interrante-Grant, who is currently on co-op at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts and will be graduating in December 2017.

As team captain, Interrante-Grant helps to design labs that potential team members use as practice in the months leading up to the competition.

“The majority of the work I do as part of the cyber defense club is more aligned with the offensive side of cybersecurity, which has been helpful from a technical perspective,” Interrante-Grant said.

He also works closely with adjunct professor and co-coach Kevin Amorin, who has been advising the cyber defense team since its infancy in 2007.

“Putting the students under this time crunch from hackers has a big impact,” Amorin said. “The entire team on the bus ride home is always very excited about what happened and excited to talk about what they’ve learned.”

The cyber defense club hosts biweekly, and later weekly, practice sessions in the months leading up to the competition. Then, they choose a team of the most committed students to compete. Amorin is continually impressed with the students’ work ethic.

“It’s very challenging to maintain a course load in CCIS, but it’s even more difficult to maintain a course load and be in a club like this,” Amorin said. “The students that come back week after week are really engaged and want to learn more about information security.”

Jack Michaud, a first-year computer science major, is one of those motivated students. He’s read plenty of books about finding vulnerabilities in software, but NECCDC was his first chance to test out his skills in real time.

“The competition really gave me a view of what’s happening in the real world to defend against cyber attacks,” Michaud said. “It was inspiring to see that there was so much more to learn. I was very humbled by all the knowledge in the room.”

Michaud, one of two first-years to compete on the team this year, also enjoyed getting to know his fellow team members.

“By the end of the trip it felt like I had a new family,” he said.

Amorin says that year after year, the Northeastern team has been continually praised by the competition judges – known as the “white team” – for their confidence under pressure. It’s a testament to how well they work together.

“Throughout the semester, we start to get to know each other and develop a way of talking to each other,” said Interrante-Grant. “When we’re in the competition, it’s easy for us to communicate with one another. When we discover red team attacks it’s not hectic. We can just deal with issues as they come.”

David Dworken, who like Michaud is a first-year student, described the frantic pace of the competition.

“Whenever you think things are going well, give it 10 seconds and something else is about to go wrong,” Dworken said. “It’s a very busy atmosphere, but everyone knows what they’re doing. I think we worked really well together.”

The skills the students take away from the competition, whether they be in cyber defense, time management, or team building, will undoubtedly be useful in their future careers, especially as cybersecurity continues to grow as an industry.

“There are a lot of reasons to study cybersecurity right now,” Amorin said. “The number of attacks are only increasing, and well-educated, knowledgeable, practical students like these are going to be the most in demand.”