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CSAW Cyber Competition

NAVAL ACADEMY CYBER TEAMS PLACE AT NATIONAL CYBER COMPETITION

  POSTED ON: Friday, November 15, 2019 2:34 PM by mediarelations@usna.edu

Naval Academy midshipmen majoring in cyber operations took second and third place in the 16th annual Cyber Security Awareness Week (CSAW) Policy Competition organized by the New York University Center for Cybersecurity last Friday, Nov. 8, in New York City.

Only five teams nationwide were invited to the competition and the Naval Academy is the only school to have two teams to compete in the finals.

The purpose of the policy competition is to encourage students who are interested in policy and emerging technology issues to think critically about major policy issues affecting society, and to impact the cyber industry by presenting their ideas to leaders within the field. It is one of the nation's most prominent cyber law and policy competitions, and is open to undergraduate, graduate and law students nationwide. The students submit written and video entries that outline a cyber-policy proposal, and the top five teams travel to NYU to present to a panel of expert judges.

Taking second place were Midshipman 1st Class Rae-Kelly Hamilton, Midshipman 2nd Class Ian Flynn, Midshipman 2nd Class Byron Gallagher and Midshipman 2nd Class Anthony Perry. 

“Their team presented a legal framework for responding to malign cyber actions that fall below the level of armed conflict,” said Prof. Jeff Kosseff, the team’s coach and an Assistant Professor in the Cyber Science Department.

Taking third place were Midshipman 2nd Class Kameron Chumley, Midshipman 2nd Class Brendan Henry, Midshipman 2nd Class Brendan Reilly and Midshipman 3rd Class Cameron Cook. They presented a proposal to combat deepfakes, which are falsified images and videos.

“Every year since 2015, USNA has taken either first or second place in this competition, and it is particularly exciting to have two teams of midshipmen place in the top three this year,” said Kosseff. “The midshipmen did an excellent job handling very tough questions from the judges, but their work began long before today. They spent a great deal of time developing their proposals all semester.”

For more information about the Naval Academy, please visit: www.usna.edu or our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/USNavalAcademy.

 


Category: General Interest, Press Releases, Academics, People, Research