Cyberwars come to UC

Students at the College of Applied Science are learning to hack into computer systems at the University of Cincinnati for the sake of Homeland security.

Two groups of students participated in "Cyber Warfare Games," on Thursday, June 12, with one group trying to hack into a hypothetical computer system and the other trying to stop them.

The games are designed to show what tools hackers have at their disposal and how to prevent them from succeeding.

Last year, identity theft and hacking caused more financial losses than drugs, prostitution and gambling combined, according to Kevin McLaughlin, Director of Information Security at UC and a founder of the games.

"Information comes in many forms," said McLaughlin, who served as referee for the games. "[Hackers] are patient because they know they'll get the money in the end."

Throughout the three hours of the event, a group of hackers called the Black Hats attempted to break into the computers of their rival group, the White Hats, who tried to block them. The Black Hats tried to steal confidential information from the PCs of the White Hats using common hacker tools readily found on the Internet. In the end, however, the White Hats were able to prevent their cyberspace rivals from achieving much success.

Learning how to hack, however, wasn't the true purpose of the games, according Quinn Shamblin, Information Security Officer and cyber crime investigator for UC.

"The most important part is the actual hands-on experience," said Shamblin. "That hands-on experience is a very valuable tool."

Shamblin is also a co-founder of the games, along with McLaughlin.

Karl Hart, who served as an authority for the Black Hats and has computer hacking experience, is a former UC information security specialist.

"You can only read about it in books so much," he said. "Any good information security person has done [hacking] sometime."

The experience the students gain by hacking or defending against hackers will provide important knowledge in the real world to help protect clients, Hart said.

Shamblin added that students would be able to recall the event and react accordingly in case of an actual threat in their professional futures.

So how safe is UC?

"Average for higher education," said Hart, who presently works for a consulting business, "Below average for the rest of the corporate world, though."