ANN ARBOR- MCRCon Cybersecurity Conference, hosted by Merit Network, is challenging IT pros and computer enthusiasts to a Capture the Flag competition on May 20 at the Michigan Cyber Range.
The competition will test the speed and skill of competitors within this virtual Internet environment. Participants will search for clues and collect flags to win top honors, and prizes will be awarded to first, second, and third place winners.
The Capture the Flag challenges will include: forensics and incident response, data manipulation, software vulnerabilities, and social engineering. For users who have competed in a capture the flag exercise before, several new challenges in data manipulation, forensics discovery and software vulnerability detection have been added. The CTF real-time scoring system will track the flags and display a leader board of scores, so participants can gauge their progress through the event.
“We are continually updating our CTF exercise to provide new challenges for our users,” said William “Joe” Adams, vice president of research and cyber security at Merit Network. “The addition of forensics and incident response is a new avenue for us and we think that it will provide another exciting aspect to the exercise.”
Participants can use their own laptop or one of the limited number of computers provided. Those who wish to use their laptop will need to download and install VMWare Horizon prior to participating in the CTF competition.
In addition to the Capture the Flag challenge, MCRCon on May 20th will feature three prominent speakers from industry to discuss the Internet of Things and other cybersecurity issues:
Greg Conti, Director, U.S. Army Cyber Research Center and Associate Professor of Computer Science, United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
Chris Roberts, Founder, CISO and CTO, One World Labs.
J Wolfgang Goerlich, Vice President of Consulting Services, VioPoint Inc.
MCRCon will be held from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20, at the Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest, which is located at 1275 S Huron Street in Ypsilanti. The CTF competition will run from noon to 7 p.m.
Admission is $75. Register online at Merit.Edu/McrCon
