SoCal Cyber Cup Competition

Palomar College recently competed in the SoCal Cyber Cup earning 2nd place in the Community College division and 4th overall. In the Finals Round, competitors operated as a blue team and were required to monitor and protect 5 hosts running various services such as HTTP, FTP, MySQL, REDIS, and Node.js. Over a 4-hour period, Palomar’s CyberComets team defended their hosts from an automated red team attack that sought to disrupt these services as well as compromise the operating system with backdoors. In the end, the CyberComets were one of the few teams (1 of 3) that successfully mitigated all of the red team attacks.

The SoCal Cyber Cup has been providing cyber competitions for the past 12 years and this was the first year that the organizers created a community college division. Palomar College intends on participating in future events as well.

If you would like to view the scoreboard from this year’s competition, you can find it at https://cyberskyline.com/events/socalccc/leaderboard/overall/so-cal-cyber-cup-final-round.

 

National Cyber League Competition National Rankings

The National Cyber League recently released their first-ever national rankings of academic institutions producing new cybersecurity professionals. Palomar College has been participating in the NCL cybersecurity competition for nearly 2 years now. I am proud to announce that nationally, Palomar College ranks #55 (based on over 400 academic institutions) and #20 amongst institutions in the western U.S.

For more information on the national rankings, click here.

CyberWatch West

Palomar College is now a member of CyberWatch West, which will soon be the National Cybersecurity Training & Education Center (NCYTE). NCYTE is an organization of hundreds of high schools, colleges and universities determined to promote cybersecurity in higher education as well as provide expertise in cyber defense. Quickly becoming a national organization with members across the continental U.S., the NCYTE supports both faculty in cybersecurity curriculum development as well as students in resources geared toward cybersecurity knowledge and career transition. Palomar College looks forward to working with NCYTE as we contribute to the cybersecurity education and training needs in San Diego and move toward certification as a Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-2Y).

 

Welcome to 2019/2020 Academic Year

It’s a new academic year and there is so much going on. This year the Computer Science and Information Technology department is offering the new A.S. Cybersecurity degree program. This program will feature two new courses in cybersecurity – Cyber Defense and Ethical Hacking. If you are interested in Cybersecurity, these classes will kick start you in the right direction. The number of cybersecurity positions in San Diego is rapidly increasing. I’m reading new postings almost daily. A few companies in the area that are hiring include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Proficio, PlayStation (Sony), Apple, QualComm, FICO, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Intuit, and many others. Now is the time to be part of this growing and fascinating field.

If you are a student at Palomar College and have an interest in Cybersecurity, come meet like-minded students at the Cybersecurity Club meetings. We meet on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays at 4pm in MD-220. We are a learning club so don’t be shy – everyone starts somewhere.

Additionally, Palomar College competes in the National Cyber League (NCL) every semester. Check out the nationalcyberleague.org for more information. We will be training for the competition in September and October. Contact me if you are interested in competing with us or want to learn about ethical hacking. If you are a former CyberPatriot competitor, this competition will be a good way to continue your training.

Calling all CyberPatriots

Are you a high school student with experience in CyberPatriot competitions?

Palomar College wants you on their team. Palomar College Information Security Club competes in the National Cyber League (NCL) twice a year providing students real-life experience in password cracking, network scanning analysis, log analysis, enumeration, and exploitation as well as web application exploitation. We are looking for talented students to join us at Palomar College to learn offensive-based cybersecurity skills and compete with us in the National Cyber League.

If you are interested in taking your skills to the next level, contact Dr. David Meske at dmeske@palomar.edu for more information on the Cybersecurity program at Palomar College.

National Cyber League Cyber Competition

Palomar College is once again participating in the NCL Cyber Competition. Palomar College’s Information Security Club has been actively researching and presenting material to its members to prepare for this semester’s competition beginning November 2nd. Last year we had 4 students compete blazing the way for others to learn from their experience. This semester, we have 8 students participating in testing their skills in:

  • password cracking
  • network scanning analysis
  • log analysis
  • enumeration and exploitation
  • web app exploitation

NCL Logo

CyberSecurity Degree Program

Welcome to my Palomar College Website. As I get settled in to my new role at Palomar College, I will update this page on the new cybersecurity degree program coming to Palomar College.

In the meantime, I will be adding various resources to my site for students to access. Please continue to check in periodically for information on cybersecurity careers, free cybersecurity learning sources, and cybersecurity related books that I recommend reading.