It's Safe to Say: IT Students Make Impression at Security Convention

A sizable Penn College contingent attended ShmooCon, the East Coast "hacker" convention, held Jan. 16-18 at the Washington (D.C.) Hilton. Three faculty members in the School of Industrial, Computing & Engineering Technologies – along with 11 graduates, 18 current students and a former student – were among those attending. The annual event covers such related topics as demonstrating technology exploitation, inventive software and hardware solutions to security issues, and provides for open discussions of critical information security issues. Two information technology: information assurance and security concentration majors, David M. Mossop, of Newark, Delaware, and Joseph M. Eak, of Bayville, New Jersey, attended on merit-based "Shmooze a Student" scholarships that paid their $150 registration fee and gave them $200 each to offset travel and meal costs. Students attended presentations and Fire Talks (15-minute presentations that challenge speakers to dive into the core of their content in a more relaxed environment than the traditional 30- to 90-minute conference format), explored Lockpick Village and teamed with professional hackers for the Hack Fortress competition. Each team comprises members playing Team Fortress 2 and members solving hacking challenges. Both gamers and hackers can contribute to the overall score of the team: Hackers can earn points for the gamers to purchase "equipment" in the game and gamers can find clues to assist hackers in solving the puzzles. The Penn College team, which won that event at ShmooCon 2014, placed second this year. Students had the opportunity to speak with the many vendors in attendance about job opportunities, and many submitted resumes for internships and permanent positions.
Photo provided by Sandra Gorka, associate professor of computer information technology