Cognizant Teams Up with Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab on Largest Hacking Competition for High School Students

Henry Shiembob, Senior Vice President and Chief Security Officer, Cognizant

In an effort to support education and interest around technology and cybersecurity, Cognizant has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)’s CyLab as a Diamond sponsor for its annual online hacking competition, picoCTF. Designed to build a talent pipeline for the cyber workforce, the event is the largest online hacking competition for high school students – previously attracting more than 30,000 students across the United States.

The competition consists of a gamified security scenario that includes a series of challenges centered around a unique storyline, where participants must reverse engineer, break, hack, and decrypt systems to solve the challenge. This year’s competition features a fictional adventure where students must apply computer security skills to uncover and decipher critical evidence to find a missing friend. These challenges are set up with the goal of being hacked, resulting in an engaging and productive way for students to get hands-on experience in Cybersecurity.

Cognizant’s partnership with CMU supports its education initiatives to prepare today’s students for tomorrow’s opportunities, sparking an interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education among young people to meet the demands of an increasingly technology-based economy. picoCTF aims to inspire students to pursue computer science and cybersecurity careers, as well as address the critical talent gap in today’s workforce landscape.

“Right now, we’re facing a tremendous shortfall in computer security experts. The root of the problem is that most people don’t even know that computer security is a field they can go into. Building awareness is a major goal of picoCTF,” said David Brumley, project lead for picoCTF, the director of CyLab and a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “We’re excited to partner with Cognizant to increase awareness among students to pursue careers in cybersecurity, computer science, and engineering.”

“As the cybersecurity and technology landscape continues to grow in complexity, so does the demand for security expertise in the workforce. Involving people at a young age and exposing them to technology areas like cybersecurity is paramount, and we’re committed to collaborating with universities like CMU and their annual picoCTF hacking competition, to continue providing these opportunities for young students,” said Henry Shiembob, Chief Security Officer, Cognizant.