Advisor:   Mark Nelson | marknels@hawaii.edu

Prerequisites:  An interest in Cybersecurity. The following classes are beneficial, but not required: • EE 205 - Object Oriented Programming • Any cybersecurity class

Courses:  • EE 396 032 Junior Project • EE 296 030 Sophomore Project

Focus:  

Description:  

Are you interested in cybersecurity? This CAPSTONE project will:

1. Give you CAPSTONE credit and create time for you to work on the 2021 NSA Codebreaker Challenge
2. Learn cybersecurity tradecraft and put your skills to the test as you complete each task

Since 2013, the NSA Codebreaker Challenge has given students a hands-on opportunity to develop analytical skills. The Challenge is a series of tasks where you hunt for malware, do cryptanalysis and reverse engineer binary files. The challenges are modeled after real-world scenarios. Students will need to “go deep” to solve the advanced tasks which are based on work done every day at the National Security Agency.
The Challenge starts in September and runs through December. A leaderboard shows how each participating school is doing.
Cybersecurity is a path for those who choose to fight against malicious cyber activity. The NSA protects the U.S. government’s national security information systems. Fortune 500 companies are also looking for individuals with cybersecurity skills to protect corporate computer systems and networks. It is in our national interest to develop cybersecurity skills to meet these needs. A byproduct of learning Software Reverse Engineering techniques is “leveling up” your programming skills as you gain insight into low-level computing environments and see how compilers work in the real world. The same techniques used to reverse engineer binary files can be used to troubleshoot low-level / hard to find bugs. Finally, you’ll gain an appreciation for how malware works and how to defend against it.

Advisor:  Mark Nelson

Format: 

Online: 2x75-minute sessions/week. Times are flexible and TBD.  Sessions will consist of lectures and lab time to focus on the challenge.

Interested? Contact Mark Nelson at marknels@hawaii.edu