US Cyber Games® at RSA College Day

RSA’s College Day ignites the spark for young people interested in cybersecurity professions.

The US Cyber Team along with PlayCyber were excited to accept RSA’s invitation to participate in College Day.

Putting the Fun in Fundamentals

College Day focused on encouraging the next generation of diverse individuals to become cybersecurity professionals through networking, resume-building, and gaming. The US Cyber Team was on hand to bring the “fun” to the fundamentals of cybersecurity the students were learning about. As a social impact company, we partner with many organizations to host events and games that support increasing or upskilling women, veterans, and other diversity-focused groups in the cyber community. This year’s event organizers highlighted their commitment to diversity by showcasing it “in all its forms, emphasizing its importance across the industry, now and for the future. From gender to ethnicity, to socioeconomic background, so many different demographics were represented both on stage and walking the conference floor.”

Among the 45,000 attendees were students who walked the conference floor looking for guidance, inspiration, and jobs. To help educate and train them on the skills needed in the industry, PlayCyber hosted a “Sandbox” where competitors of all levels participated in cyber games. We know that positive, competitive engagement helps individuals level up core and technical skills while having fun, thereby bridging the gap between “professional” and “play.”

A number of students hopped on keyboards and tried their hand at a CTF (capture the flag) designed by the US Cyber Games program. These CTF challenges were delivered via a US Cyber Games–managed, cloud-hosted instance on the CTF-d platform that allowed competitors to choose from several challenges in the following categories:

• Crypto
• Forensics
• PWN
• Reverse Engineering
• Web

Competitors received challenge coins and had the opportunity to meet with Season II US Cyber Games athletes Austen King and Aidan Benderly. They shared their experiences in cyber gaming and helped beginner players by offering them pointers and tools. There were even a few tenacious competitors who were using their own laptops to play and continued to work on their challenges from home over the weekend until the games were closed on Sunday at midnight.

PlayCyber’s Director of Cyber Sports Bradley Wolfenden said, “We thoroughly enjoyed meeting all the great young people who came by our table and participated in the CTF. Every time we looked up, we saw our laptops occupied by determined competitors, and watching our Season II athletes interact with them reminded me exactly what this program is all about. We hope their interest continues to grow and they decide to play in some of our upcoming games like next month’s US Cyber Open.”

Show Off Your Athletic Skills

If you are interested in learning about PlayCyber or in signing up for our upcoming cyber games, contact us today for more information.

 Join us for our next all-skill-level event, The US Cyber Games® Open, June 5th-12th. It is a Capture the Flag (CTF) competition that includes a Competitive CTF and Beginner's Game Room.  Everyone is invited to play. LEARN MORE AND SIGN UP TODAY!