Four members of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadet’s Cyber Ops Special Unit participated in the Hackathon hosted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The event was designed to leverage both offensive and defensive cyber operations against adversaries intent on attacking DoD networks.
Cadets of the Cyber Operations special unit served as members of cyber protection teams tasked with defending friendly network systems deemed critical for the operation. In these roles, they had the opportunity to build network maps, develop courses of action and execute response actions to counter adversary challenges in cyberspace.
Three faculty/staff members from the Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center including the center’s director Dr. Daniel Ragsdale accompanied the cadets to the event. During the Hackathon, Cadets were asked to run a war game in order to test a new cyber platform named “Plan X.”
The Cyber Protection Team used Plan X to identify threat actors, protect from incoming attacks, detect breaches in security, and remediate those breaches. Every member of the cadet team that attended learned a lot about real cyber engagements and were all able to positively contribute to the further development of Plan X. The Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center would like to congratulate these outstanding cadets on a job well done!
Member of the Cyber Protection Team who competed in the DARPA Hackathon include:
Andrew Laramore ’18
Nicholas Fauver ’18
Nathan Powell ’19
Jack Shirley ’19
This article was originally published by the Corps of Cadets in the newsletter and Parent’s Update from the Commandant Brigadier General Joe E. Ramirez Jr. ’79