The Cyber World isn't Dark and Foreboding, or an Alternate Reality, as in the movie, "The Matrix," but with the Perpetual Fights against Cyberattacks, the Cchallenge is being adaptable enough in an ever-changing Environment to keep Sensitive Materials Safe from getting into the Hands of the Enemy. With Cyber developing into a High Priority in the Future of Military Operations, the importance of having great Young Minds at the Forefront of the Fight is a Critical Piece to Future Success.

At the U.S. Military Academy, the Cadet Competitive Cyber Team (C3T) gets into the Inner Workings of the Cyber Domain and participates in about 10 Competitions a year. During Army-Air Force Week, the Team hosted its First Head-to-Head Competition with the U.S. Air Force Academy in a Capture the Flag Cyber Competition Nov. 2nd in the Cyber Lab in Thayer Hall.

The Competition is about Developing and Demonstrating Skills in a Competitive Exercise Environment that Challenges Cadets to Conduct all Aspects of Cyberspace Operations. Capture the Flag is a type of Computer Security Competition that presents Competitors with Authentic Software Flaws in an increasingly Difficult, Challenge-based Setting.

"In the competition, both teams have a vulnerable server that is running some custom programs and their task is to find bugs in those programs," Capt. Roy Ragsdale, Research Scientist, Army Cyber Institute, said. "Once they do, they need to patch their bugs in their system, develop exploits against those vulnerabilities to steal flags and also maintain their services availability."

A Flag, which they are trying to Steal, is a String of Characters, such as 'ACI{hack_on_A7B554},' which demonstrate a Competitor has Successfully Exploited a Bug. This, in turn, provides an Objective Measure of Success, so if the Team gets a Flag, the Team's Method is Correct.

"The flag in this format (of competition) is just a way to prove that you have control of their system," Ragsdale, who is also an Instructor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, said. "It's secret information that demonstrates that you were able to compromise their system and (steal) some data that would represent, in real life, any sensitive information that would be on a system."

The CTF competition between Army and Air Force involved 12 Cadets on each side with each Team trying to find Vulnerabilities, Develop Patches to Protect their Flags, Defense, develop Exploits to Steal Flags, Offense, and keep their Services Running, Availability. "This competition is a phenomenal opportunity to get exposed to new skills and be challenged in a competitive environment," Ragsdale said.

The Challenge was Created by Five Developers, including U.S. Military Academy 2014 Graduate, Capt. Christian Sharpsten, who is Stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland. Sharpsten helped Establish the Cadet Competitive Cyber Team in 2013 as a Cadet, and said, "We led the team through its initial stages." "It's exciting to see how it's grown from something very informal with a few cadets with faculty support, to something formalized and supported by leadership," Sharpsten said.

Sharpsten explained that the Competition was launched with an Unknown Quantity with the Vulnerable Box that the Teams had to Secure. He said the First Steps were trying to Identify which Services were Running, where the Source Code was Located, and from there, doing Vulnerability Analysis to try to find the Vulnerabilities and Patch them and then Exploit the other Team.

"The cyber domain is all about code," Ragsdale said. "The systems that we're using and protecting, we rely on code, and the systems that we're exploiting and taking advantage of there are flaws in that code. It is about understanding the system where its expected behavior defers from its actual behavior." Ragsdale articulated that the toughest part of the Competition was getting Exposed to an Unfamiliar Scenario and having to Rapidly gain the New Knowledge and Integrate that with Existing Knowledge so that the Team could make Progress.

I had my Computer Classes at the Air Force Academy from 1967-1968.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker