Rochester, New York — What the Rochester Institute of Technology team is doing on purpose is figuring out how to carry out a cyberattack on a simulated hotel computer system.
Student Annika Clarke said, “I’m trying to sign in to my router right now to see if it’s vulnerable.
It’s not only ethical, it’s encouraged. It is part of the 8th Annual University Penetration Testing Competition, with cybersecurity students from 15 universities around the world.
They experience what an ethical hack of a real company’s system looks and feels like.
“The level of expertise required to succeed in this career is very high,” said Justin Pelletier, Director of RIT Cyber and Training Center.
Careers need advanced technical skills to protect their networks from hackers. It’s a constant battle.
“It’s really difficult,” Pelletier said. So the attacker only has to get him right once. A defender must always be right. ”
“Once you get used to the stress, it becomes normal. It may sound sad, but it’s fun,” said student Max Fusco.
Competition isn’t just for bragging rights. Prepare students for careers in cybersecurity. There are hundreds of thousands of job openings in this space, but a relatively small talent pool to fill them.
“So events like this really bring excitement,” says Peletier. As you know, this is a really lucrative as well as influential career. ”
“Hacking things is not only fun, it gives you real-world experience because the people creating this contest believe their job is a real-world test and what’s out there Because they know how and they want us to learn in advance.
Virtually everything in life is tied to computer technology.
“We know there’s something out there, but we have to navigate the network to find it.
These students will be the ones to defend it in their careers.
“There are many ways to make money with technology, but this way people can think about something a little bigger than themselves, give back the skills they develop to their communities, and help our civilization become safer.” We can do it, and we can rely on it,” Pelletier said.
