A capacity crowd turned out this past weekend for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's "Pink Elephant Unicorn" capture the flag competition in Seattle.
The national lab holds the competition twice a year, in eastern Washington and in the Seattle area, as a way to advance the field of cybersecurity and build awareness of computer safety and security. The events are open to everyone, regardless of skill level.
Two security analysts with the state Office of CyberSecurity (OCS), Aaron Brown and Troy House, attended the weekend event. They both taught cybersecurity classes and assisted participants in the competition.
"Pink Elephant Unicorn is a great way to provide hands-on experience - both technical and non-technical - for people who are new to cyber security," Brown said. "It has been a joy and a privilege to partner with the national lab in this event. It is always a thrill to teach and learn from those excited about cyber security."
Brown said high school and college students studying cybersecurity, as well as teachers and seasoned security professionals, attended the event. Each person was assigned a team based on their experience level, so each team had a mix of beginner, intermediate, and experienced cyber security professionals.
The event, Brown said, provides the opportunity to work in areas of cybersecurity, or specific technology, not normally available. For example, the highlight of this year's event was to respond to a simulated cyber security incident at a nuclear power facility. The national lab brought in real Industrial Control Systems (ICS) created for training purposes to provide hands-on experience for students with that kind of technology.
Brown said 100 people attended the event, held at Northeastern University in Seattle, with several dozen more on a waiting list. This year's scenario contained numerous technical and non-technical puzzles and challenges along with an incident response based cyber security exercise including updating management, asking management for additional information and technical tasks to perform.
Activities at this year's competition were tailored to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Framework and intended to expose participants to real-world tasks, specialties, and work roles in cyber security.
For people unable to attend last weekend's competition, the national lab plans to hold more PEU events, tentatively scheduled for Richland in July and Seattle next February.