Data requests and cyber attacks. Distractions and misinformation. While much of the campus went quiet for spring break, Kingsbury Hall bustled with the work of 10 student teams participating in the 2018 Northeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, hosted by the UNH Cyber Security Team. The teams — finalists from an original field of 36 schools — ran fictional digital forensics companies, managing customer and employee systems and responding to requests from management while defending against cyber attackers — the types of real-life challenges cyber-security experts face every day. The UNH team finished fourth, but more important, says adviser Kenneth Graf, students got invaluable exposure to the dynamics of cyber attacks and the opportunity to collaborate with local firms looking to hire computer science grads with cyber-security experience.
