By playing the role of national cyber security experts, doctoral students from Karlstad University won Cyber Challenge 2017, organised by the Centre for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish Defence University and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB).
“We are extremely happy and honoured that we won this prize, especially considering all the work we did for the competition,” says Jenni Reuben, doctoral student in Computer Science and one of the members of the Karlstad University team. “There are high expectations ahead of the European final in Genève. So there’s a bit more pressure, but it’s also extremely exciting. It’s extra nice that we beat the Swedish Defence University’s team.”
Karlstad University’s team consists of four doctoral students: Jenni Reuben (Computer Science), Nurul Momen (Computer Science), Alexandre Sukhov (Service Research Centre) and Sebastian Dehling (Service Research Centre). They were coached by Lothar Fritsch, associate professor in Computer Science at Karlstad University.
All teams were presented with a scenario before the competition, namely a changed regional security situation in which it has become more common to launch cyber-attacks to obtain security objectives. In the scenario a national commission has been tasked with preparing for emergencies related to information and cyber security incidents. The competing teams acted as consultants for the commission and had to develop guidelines for handling crisis related to cyber-attacks.
“Based on the scenario presented to us we analysed attacks, identified the actors behind them and assessed risks. We then produced a report with suggested guidelines for handling crises related to cyber-attacks,” says Jenni Reuben.
During the day of the competition each team presented parts of its report in front of a jury comprising representatives from universities, government agencies and business connected to issues of national security and cyber security.
By winning Cyber Challenge 2017, the team from Karlstad University qualified for the European final “Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge 2017” that will be held in Genève later this spring. Their participation expenses will be paid by MSB.
“I am extremely proud of our team,” says Lothar Fritsch, the team’s coach and associate professor in Computer Science. “They have worked extremely hard since getting the assignment in December and they analysed cyber security guidelines from different perspectives to produce their report.”
