This year marked the 19th season of the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC). For those unfamiliar, CCDC is a competition that puts student teams in charge of managing IT for a fictitious company as the network is undergoing a fundamental transformation. This year the challenge involved a common scenario: a merger. Ten finalist teams were tasked with managing IT infrastructure during this migrational period and, as an added bonus, the networks were simultaneously attacked by a group of red teams pretending to be bad actors.
Every year the students’ mission is to mitigate the risk of the red team attacks and ensure their business successfully transforms, all while continuing operations. This competition is unique as it lets the students get a feel for the chaos and stress that ensues when an organization is compromised, undergoing major transitions all while continuing to provide value to customers and report progress to their leadership team.
I’m lucky enough to have founded the National CCDC red team with my good friend Dave Cowen during the competition’s second year. Having participated as a core red team member for almost 20 years I’ve worked with many students and seen massive shifts in the technology, both offensive and defensive. Interestingly enough, while technology has changed dramatically, and exploits and vulnerabilities come and go, many of the core lessons remain the same. These are some key lessons that underpin the successful teams year after year.
Communication is key
The reality is, compromise happens, things break, mistakes are made, systems do not always operate as intended. The best way to navigate through these pr ..
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