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World's Biggest Student-Led Cyber Security Games Expand to IsraelBROOKLYN, N.Y., Aug. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The world's biggest student-run cyber security event will get even bigger this year: Cyber Security Awareness Week (CSAW), founded 14 years ago by the New York University Tandon School of Engineering, announced it will expand to Israel, which will become the fifth country to host the final rounds of competitions that test the skills of thousands of future cyber sleuths and protectors. Students – from high school through doctoral candidates – can begin registering for the preliminary rounds of the varied contests in the hope that they will win a chance to play among the world's best in the final rounds of competition November 9-17, 2017, in Brooklyn, Abu Dhabi, France, India, and Israel. Also for the first time this year, students from Canada and Mexico can qualify for the finals in Brooklyn. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva (BGU) will be one of five global hubs for the event's signature competition, Capture the Flag (CTF). CSAW Israel, organized by BGU's Department of Software and Information Systems Engineering and the IBM Cyber Security Center of Excellence (CCoE), is accepting registrations for the qualification round on September 5-6, 2017. The CSAW CTF finals in Israel will be held November 16-17, 2017 at the BGU campus in Beer-Sheva. Final rounds at the other global hubs will be November 9-11. In 2016, NYU Tandon joined with the NYU Abu Dhabi Center for Cyber Security, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-Kanpur) to widen CSAW beyond Brooklyn, New York, for the first time by staging simultaneous final rounds for students in the Middle East, North Africa, and India. Earlier this year, Grenoble INP - Esisar, based in Valence, France, part of the Grenoble Institute of Technology, became the European hub for CSAW. In 2012, Ben-Gurion University became the first Israeli university and one of the first in the world to offer graduate study tracks in cyber security. IBM's Cyber Security Center of Excellence at BGU, established in 2014, is a home for an influential team of IBM security researchers and engineers who investigate emerging cyber threats and solutions in collaboration with BGU researchers. "The launch of a new CSAW hub at Ben-Gurion University reflects the spirit of the collaborative innovation between IBM and the university," said Dr. Yaron Wolfsthal, director of IBM's Cyber Center of Excellence at BGU. "This collaboration has previously had many forms, such as joint research on cognitive computing methods for cyber security, and participation of IBM's National CERT analysts in BGU educational programs. The latest introduction of the local CTF competition in Beer-Sheva makes our partnership even more influential in establishing Israel as a cyber security leader." "I believe that the new CSAW initiative with IBM in collaboration with the BGU Software and Information Systems Engineering Department (SISE) and the BGU Cyber Security Research Center is a great opportunity for the advancement of cyber security research at BGU" said Prof. Bracha Shapira, head of the SISE Department. NYU Tandon, NYU Abu Dhabi, Grenoble INP - Esisar, and IIT-Kanpur are now also accepting registrations for the CSAW elimination rounds in September, which last year pitted more than 10,000 students – from high schools through doctoral programs – against global competitors, all working from their own computers. The competitions will challenge their knowledge of virtually every aspect of information security, from hardware and software penetration testing and protection to digital forensics and government policy. This year, the best students from India, parts of the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, the United States, Canada, and Mexico will participate in the final rounds, which will be held November 9-11, 2017. Travel awards and prizes vary by region. At the regional CSAW campuses, students will network with top professionals who serve as judges, hear experts address emerging issues, meet recruiters eager to fill what is expected to be a shortfall of 1.5 million cyber security professionals by 2020, and face tough competition from teams from other schools. The CSAW games were founded by Professor Nasir Memon of the NYU Tandon Department of Computer Science and Engineering and his students. Students continue to design the contests under the mentorship of information security professionals and faculty and run them from NYU Tandon's student-led Offensive Security, Incident Response and Internet Security (OSIRIS) lab, home also to weekly Hack Nights. "Since data knows no borders, and national boundaries offer no impediment to attackers, data security is indeed a global issue," said Ramesh Karri, professor of electrical and computer engineering at NYU Tandon and lead faculty member for CSAW. "Collaboration is critical: those who protect our personal privacy and institutions must transcend borders and work across regions. A key challenge will be cultivating new data-security talent to meet demand; CSAW's expansion to Israel and four other global hubs is an acknowledgement of the important role white-hat competitions play in cultivating that talent worldwide." Each of the regional CSAW conferences will have a slightly varied agenda in terms of competitions and events. Winners of the final rounds can walk away with cash prizes, scholarships, and more. Bragging rights are often the biggest motivator – CSAW has become a boldface line for recruiters and university admissions officers. The roster of events (with registration available at linked websites) includes:
The 2017 CSAW in North America is supported by Gold Sponsors IBM, Palo Alto Networks, and the Office of Naval Research; Silver Sponsor BAE Systems; Bronze Sponsors Bloomberg, Jane Street, Jefferies, JP Morgan Chase; Supporting Sponsors Cubic, Rhymetec, the Ruth & Jerome A. Siegel Foundation, and the United States Secret Service; and Contributing Sponsors Applied Computer Security Associates and CTFd. For more information and to register, visit csaw.engineering.nyu.edu. Follow @CSAW_NYUTandon. About the NYU Tandon School of Engineering About NYU Abu Dhabi About IIT Kanpur About Grenoble INP - Esisar About Ben-Gurion University Note: Images available at http://dam.engineering.nyu.edu/?c=1973&k=2062801dd4 www.facebook.com/nyutandon
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