AFIT team wins annual DOD Cyber Crime Center Challenge

Published 4 December 2007

Four graduate students from the Air Force Institute of Technology win highly competitive annual DOD Cyber Crime Center Challenge; the winning team used innovative techniques to crack passwords; repair damaged media such as CDs, DVDs, and a thumb drive; extract hidden information from audio files; and dissect digitally altered photos

A team of four computer science and cyber operations graduate students from the Air Force Institute of Technology combined their cyber skills and interest in digital forensics to win the Grand Champion trophy at the annual DOD Cyber Crime Center Challenge, known as the DC3 Challenge, recently. This highly competitive event brought together 126 teams from commercial, government, civilian, military, and academic institutions for the purpose of highlighting tools, techniques, and procedures that address the most troubling issues DC3 faces. The winning team used innovative techniques to crack passwords; repair damaged media such as CDs, DVDs, and a thumb drive; extract hidden information from audio files; and dissect digitally altered photos to accrue points in the challenge. The AFIT team, the “Cyber Warriors,” consisted of Maj. Andy Hansen, Al-Nath Tuting, Capt. Dorsey Wilkin, and First Lt. Mike Kolbe.

Our students represented the Air Force and the Institute in a superb manner by placing first among the applicant teams. Challenges such as these demonstrated the value of graduate education and research at AFIT and highlight the talents the Air Force is growing in support of the AFCYBER mission,” said an AFIT official.