MVCC hosts cybersecurity students at CNY Hackathon

UTICA, N.Y. — Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) hosted the Central New York Hackathon on its Utica campus last Saturday, Nov. 5.

It’s an intercollegiate cybersecurity competition designed to improve the state of computer science and cybersecurity education. The event also aims to align academia more closely with Central New York industry partners.

This year, about 80 cybersecurity students from regional colleges and universities, including MVCC, Utica University, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Syracuse University, and the University at Albany, joined the competition. They were joined by about 30 high-school students who took part in a workshop and joined as exhibition teams.

“The CNY Hackathon is a model of regional collaboration between Central New York colleges, and each of the five main schools contribute to the event and attend every year,” Jake Mihevc, dean of the MVCC’s School of STEM-Transfer and co-founder of the event, said in a news release. “One of the unique elements of our event is that we mix the student teams, so they have a chance to learn from students in different cybersecurity programs. It makes for a really great event and is a reflection of how we all collaborate within our regional cybersecurity education community.”

The event began Friday, Nov. 4 with virtual presentations, and the competition started at 8:30 a.m. the next day. Students participated in challenges to defend their virtual systems from attacks by local industry professionals. The simulation of actual cybersecurity work provides students with an understanding of their future roles, increases engagement in the classroom, and aids in workforce readiness for cybersecurity graduates.

Team three won the event by defending its systems from Red Team attacks and performing capture-the-flag challenges. Team members include Jay Patel, Syracuse University; Michelle Maiden, University of Maine; Nathaniel Collins, MVCC; Tyler Lingen, SUNY Poly; Ben Hesel, Utica University; Patrick Uwechue, Utica University; and Carter Iannoti, Utica University. Patel was voted most valuable teammate while Iannoti was most improved player.

The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security designated MVCC as a Regional Resource Center for the northeast region of the United States. The center’s mission is to perform outreach and build relationships with educational institutions in the region as well as guide candidate colleges on the path to designation as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) institution.

MVCC offers both an associate degree and a one-year certificate in cybersecurity. It also hosts GenCyber, a weeklong summer program for high-school faculty and students to encourage interest in cybersecurity careers.