Written by: Tiffany Westry
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More than 40 high school students from around the state brought their best digital investigation skills to the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Feb. 24 for the Blazer42 Capture the Flag Scholarship Competition, held at UAB’s Edge of Chaos.
Ten teams of four students participated in simulated hacking events created by UAB’s Capture the Flag team. The goal of the game is to uncover “flags” hidden in various cybersecurity challenges. The competition is designed to cultivate students’ interest in cybersecurity and get them thinking about the field as a college and career path.
Students competed for $20,000 in scholarship funds to study computer science or digital forensics at UAB. The event, hosted by the UAB College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Criminal Justice and Palo Alto Networks, tested their knowledge of cybersecurity in a number of areas, including social media, network analysis, file analysis, data encoding and encryption, and web security.
The winners of this year’s Blazer42 Capture the Flag Scholarship Competition are:
First Place: Tuscaloosa Academy students Sam Daly, Ella Huffaker, Sam Morris and Jonas Schanz. Each team member was awarded $2,000 in scholarship funds to be used toward the study of cybersecurity at UAB.
Second Place: Alabama School of Fine Arts students Arrington Harper, Colin Melville, Katherine Malone and Ricardo Rouco-Crenshaw. Each team member was awarded $1,500 in scholarship funds to study at UAB.
Third Place: Center Point High School students Trinity Bell, Kori Harris, Kasia Phillip and Nicole White. Each team member was awarded $1,000 in scholarship funds to study at UAB.
Other high schools represented in this year’s competition include Bob Jones High School, Gardendale High School, Wetumpka High School, Spain Park High School and Mountain Brook High School.
UAB offers Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in computer and information sciences. This spring, a new Bachelor of Science degree in digital forensics was launched. This interdisciplinary degree program is a joint offering from the Department of Justice Sciences and the Department of Computer and Information Sciences. The program is designed to prepare graduates for a professional career in the field of digital forensics and cybersecurity.
You can learn more about the competition in this video.