200 Student Sleuths Vie Tonight in NYU-Poly Cyber War Games

More than 80 International Teams Compete in Opening Round of Cyber Security
Awareness Week Games in Search of the Next Generation of Computer Stars
NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
As midnight nears and with it the opening of cyber security games at Polytechnic
Institute of New York University, more than 200 student applicants from
throughout the globe have already signed up - double last year`s number. The
goal of the various challenges of the 6th Annual Cyber Security Awareness Week
(CSAW) games is to identify the next generation of stars to fight cyber crime,
estimated to cost business more than $1 trillion annually.

At the stroke of midnight tonight, graduate students of NYU-Poly will open the
CSAW Application Security Challenge, a cyber-attack competition loosely based on
the DefCon Capture the Flag Prequels. Participants will receive a series of
challenges focused on web application security, reversing and exploitation.

For 24 hours, undergraduate and graduate students from the United States,
Mexico, Germany, Austria, China, India and Brazil will work from their home
computers, watching how they stack up on a virtual scoreboard and exchanging
information with graduate students of NYU-Poly`s Information Systems and
Internet Security Lab on a chat board and Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/CSAW-Cyber-Security-Awareness-Week-of-NYUPOLY/120611727207.

This year`s challenge was designed by two world-famous "white hat" hackers who
fight real-life cyber-crime, Stephen Ridley of Matasano Security and Dino Dai
Zovi, co-author of The Mac Hacker's Handbook and The Art of Software Security
Testing. They will be judges for this challenge, as will two other prominent
cyber-crime fighters, Dean De Beer, principal of zero(day)solutions, and Erik
Cabetas.

The top 10 domestic teams will win a trip to NYU-Poly`s Brooklyn campus on
November 13 to compete in the final round for cash and scholarships. Winning
international teams will qualify for prizes, too, but must make their own way to
the finals if they wish to compete.

Winners will be posted on the CSAW Facebook page and the official site,
http://www.poly.edu/csaw. This is also the site at which students can still
register for other challenges open to those in high school, undergraduate and
graduate schools.

In addition to competing for prizes on November 13, finalists will be able to
mingle with experts in their field and get career advice from cyber-security
celebrities and firms that could be future employers.

CSAW sponsors are SANS, Cisco, L-3 Communications and BAE Systems.

About Polytechnic Institute of New York University

Polytechnic Institute of New York University (formerly Polytechnic University),
an affiliate of New York University, is New York`s most comprehensive school of
engineering, applied sciences, technology and research, and is rooted in
Polytechnic`s 155-year tradition of invention, innovation and entrepreneurship -
i2e. The institution, founded in 1854, is one of the nation`s oldest private
engineering schools. In addition to its main campus at MetroTech Center in
downtown Brooklyn, it offers programs at sites throughout the region and around
the globe. NYU-Poly has centers in Long Island, Manhattan and Westchester
County; globally, it has programs in Israel, China and will be an integral part
of NYU's campus in Abu Dhabi opening in autumn 2010. For more information, visit
www.poly.edu.

Polytechnic Institute of New York University
Kathleen Hamilton
718-260-3792 office
973-997-0416 mobile
khamilto@poly.edu

Copyright Business Wire 2009