Cyber Security Week 2014 launched with undergraduate quiz

Tuesday, 23 September 2014 00:53 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The first event of the Cyber Security Week program was conducted on 10 September with the Cyber Security Quiz for undergraduates. The event was held at the BMICH with a total of 21 teams participating in the final round. Each team consisted of three members and there were eight rounds of competitions. This year’s participation was the largest-ever. The teams were from University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC), Moratuwa University, Peradeniya University, Sabaragamuwa University, Uwe Wellassa University, SLIIT, ICBT and Sri Jayewardenepura University. Larger institutions like the UCSC, the Moratuwa University and SLIIT presented multiple teams.

Over the past six years, Sri Lanka CERT|CC has conducted the Cyber Security Week (CSW) program. The objective of the program is to raise awareness about information security among various groups within the country, from professionals to school children. The fruits of this labour are apparent as more and more people are aware of the subject and what they should be doing to protect themselves on the internet. However, security threats are constantly changing in nature and complexity and countermeasures are necessary if we are to prevail. This year’s program, CSW 2014 will be held during the 1first week of October. It will consist of technical workshops, a hacking challenge, an information security quiz for university students and the 7th Annual National Conference on Cyber Security. There will also be an electronic and print media campaign to educate the masses on information security, in addition to other side events for law enforcement personnel and the legal profession. Every year Sri Lanka CERT|CC aspires to integrate international experiences in combating security threats and implementing security to the CSW Program, especially at the conference and the technical workshops. Since information security is borderless, it is imperative to share experiences and learn from experiences from other parts of the world. To this end, we rely on the goodwill and generosity of our international information security peers. We look forward to their contribution through their valuable resources to help make the program an engaging and enlightening experience for all involved. A number of foreign experts from Japan, China, Singapore, Australia and India will play an active role at all the events. The next event on the CSW 2014 program is the Ethical Hacking Challenge. After this the National Conference of Cyber Security, which is the flagship event will be held on 1 October followed by four workshops. The entire program ends on 10 October. Founded in 2006, the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team | Coordinating Centre (Sri Lanka CERT|CC), a fully-owned subsidiary of the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, is mandated with the protection of information and information systems in Sri Lanka. Its services range from responding to and investigating information security breaches, to preventing security breaches by way of awareness creation, security assessments and security capability building. Learn more at www.cert.gov.lk.