Penn State cybersecurity club gets competitive
After each competition, the club meets to talk about how it went and to bring members that didn’t attend up to speed. Beatty says it’s important to consistently touch base and evaluate everyone’s strengths and weaknesses.
“We’re always asking our members, ‘What did you excel at? What are you struggling with?’” Beatty said. “That way we can more accurately match people up with the types of competitions they’ll hopefully do the best at.”
The team has been steadily improving its placement in competitions.
The past two years, they were finalists and received awards to participate in the finals of the National Cyber Analyst Challenge. Additionally, they placed sixth in the National Cyber League and were 10th out of 98 teams in the MITRE Capture the Flag event. And as members gear up for another season, they hope to get even better.
“Penn State is great at and well known for its athletics programs, but the University is really excelling in these fields within cybersecurity, too,” Houk said. “I think, and hope, this will be the next thing Penn State is known for.”
Preparing for the future
Houk’s prediction is already coming true.
President Eric Barron invited the club to join him for a pregame tailgate before the Nov. 5 football game against the University of Iowa. With only one club from Penn State being invited each year, Houk says it’s a huge honor.
“It’s amazing that we’re doing what we love to do and other people are finding value in it,” Houk said. “Cybersecurity is an important issue right now, so it’s good to be recognized for the work we’re doing.”
Even though the club’s members are still here at Penn State, some of them credit the work they’ve done with CCSO for helping them secure jobs before graduation. Beatty is a consultant for Deloitte Advisory, and Houk works for a small bitcoin company. Chris Masden, a club member majoring in security risk analysis, will be doing vulnerability research, while Morelli has secured a position with Boeing.
“This isn’t actually uncommon in the College of IST,” Beatty said. “They have a really good record of job placement with their students. Many of us have jobs our entire senior year.”
As the team prepares for their next event — the fall season of the National Cyber League — Masden says he hopes to continue this kind of work post-college.
“In the future, moving on from Penn State, I always want to be doing this,” said Masden. “I don’t want to be management or work on policy. I want to be doing this hands-on work.”
To learn more about the club, visit the CCSO Web site.
