With more players entering the ransomware racket and cryptojacking on the rise, the demand for cybersecurity professionals is at its highest level. Securing Our eCity Foundation, National Defense Industrial Association and National University understands this unique need and challenged cyber-interested middle and high school students in Southern California to a competition that included 30 schools and over 500 registrants.
This competition, the SoCal Cyber Cup Challenge, was started by Securing Our eCity Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on cybersecurity awareness and education. This year’s Cyber Cup Challenge for the first time was gamified using real-world cyber tools in a virtual environment from Circadence® Corporation’s Project Ares®. Students interacted with the platform at various levels leading up to Missions in a virtual environment, in which cyber tools are provided, network activity, and an extensive library of authentic threat scenarios. Liz Fraumann, executive director for the Securing Our eCity Foundation said, “These students have grown up with video games and smartphones. The Project Ares user interface and gamified approach to training are appealing to the next generation of cyber warriors.”
Circadence’s Project Ares is the only gamified, AI-powered cybersecurity training solution that brings real-world tools and tactics together in immersive, virtual environments, and was the exclusive platform for the 2017-18 SoCal Cyber Cup Challenge. “Project Ares is an ideal platform for this competition because it offers exceptional skills training in a gamified setting that appeals to these young students,” said Mike Moniz, co-founder and CEO of Circadence.
Supporting Project Ares technology requirements for the competition including hardware, RAM, data storage, and cloud technology was ScaleMatrix’ burstable, customizable, and high-performance cloud solution, ScaleCloud. “We are powering this awesome AI platform from our data center in San Diego to give the future cyber defenders and leaders a stellar experience with optimal performance,” said Brent Beverly, vice president of technology operations at ScaleMatrix.
It was a successful and exciting SoCal Cyber Cup Challenge, especially with the addition of Circadence’s Project Ares, powered by ScaleMatrix. Both companies donated their time and resources to this competition and were excited to have the opportunity to give back and help these future cybersecurity leaders grow their skills and interest. Del Norte High School and The Cambridge School took first place in their respective high school and middle school divisions. For more about these impressive students, read the Times of San Diego article; to learn more about Project Ares, visit Circadence.com, and to get more information about ScaleMatrix Cloud and Colocation, visit ScaleMatrix.com.
-Stephanie Mansolino, VP of Marketing, ScaleMatrix
