DCN May 2017 | Page 8

industry news Students tackle cyber attacks with new software Innovative new cyber security software, developed by researchers at Leeds Beckett University and the University of Birmingham, has been tested at a national university competition. The project, led by Dr Z Cliffe Schreuders, director of the Cybercrime and Security Innovation (CSI) Centre at Leeds Beckett, with Dr Tom Chothia, senior lecturer in Computer Security at the University of Birmingham, saw student intern developers work with a team of researchers to develop randomised capture the flag (CTF) hacking challenges for students to tackle. Following completion of the project, a competition event was run to introduce UK students and security lecturers to the new framework. The event was run by Leeds Beckett University in collaboration with Cyber Security Challenge UK, the University of Birmingham The winning Leeds Beckett team, l-r: and the Higher Education Academy (HEA), and hosted at Christopher Easton, Mohammad Ebrahimi, Ben Magee, Aamir Mir. Liverpool John Moores University. A total of 59 students from 10 universities competed in the challenge. A team of final year BSc (Hons) Computer Forensics and Security students and a PhD student, all from Leeds Beckett University, took home the top prize. Chris Easton, a member of the winning team, said, ‘It feels great to have won! I felt like I had a little bit of an advantage, having completed a year’s placement as a Penetration Tester at Sec-1, an Internet security company based in Batley, however it could not have been possible without the entire team working tremendously hard at the various tasks.’ Aamir Mir, who was also on the winning team, commented, ‘As the team leader I feel like this team performed to the best of their ability and this result is a true indication of effort from the entire team.’ Joining Chris and Aamir in the winning team were Ben Magee and Mohammed Ebrahimi. Leeds Beckett University now plans to work with Cyber Security Challenge UK to organise similar hacking competitions for local schools, to introduce them to further study and careers in computer security. This will include working with all-girl schools to promote careers in cyber security for women. IT infrastructure from smallest to largest. ENCLOSURES POWER DISTRIBUTION CLIMATE CONTROL