News Release
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Nicole S. Rowe
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Wilmington University Students Win First Place in Digital Forensics Challenge For Second Year
Team Places First in Undergraduate Category, Second in the U.S., and Fifth in the World
For the second year in a row Wilmington University's College of Technology students have taken home the gold at the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3) Digital Forensic Challenge. DC3, an international competition sponsored by the Department of Defense, International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Threats (IMPACT), and the Sans institute, draws entries from government teams, military teams, civilian teams, and academic teams. Wilmington University's "Team Name", hailing from the University's Dover site, placed first in the undergraduate category, second in the United States and fifth in the world out of a total of 1040 teams. Last year Wilmington University's New Castle team (Wilm01) were the dark horse winners of the undergraduate category placing first among 1100 entries and giving them the honor of being personally congratulated by Governor Jack Markell and Senator Tom Carper.
"Team Name" consisted of College of Technology students Aaron Hampton, Mike Pancoast, David Konopka and Mike Logue. While most academic teams participating in the DC3 Digital Forensic challenge are supported by a faculty member, "Team Name" (a tongue-in-cheek name created by the students) tackled the competition all on their own. "Accomplishing what this team has done and all without the assistance of a coach is remarkable," said Mark Hufe, Computer and Network Security Program Chair at Wilmington University. "It speaks volumes on their ability to collaborate, stay focused, and take the initiative." The University's "Team Name" crushed the competition with a final score of 1,129 points versus 730 points earned by the second place team.
The DC3 Digital Forensic Challenge, which began in 2006, "encourages innovation from a broad range of individuals, teams, and institutions to provide technical solutions for computer forensic examiners in the lab as well as in the field." Teams participating in the challenge are given unique scenarios that involve a breach in cyber security and are asked to solve these challenges by working together. In an announcement congratulating the winners, the DC3 Challenge Team states, "With all the talent, knowledge, and energy that the DC3 Digital Forensics Challenge 2010 submitting teams put into their Findings Reports, Methodologies, and Programs, it was quite the job to complete the grading on time."
Wilmington University's "Team Name" has been awarded an expenses paid trip to the 2011 U.S. Department of Defense Cyber Crime Conference to be held in Atlanta, Georgia from January 21 to 28.
For more information visit http://www.dc3.mil/challenge/2010/stats/scoreboard.php.
