PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (March 11, 2022) – Prairie View A&M University and Sandia National Laboratories teamed up this semester to host the Tracer Forensic and Incident Response Exercise competition on PVAMU’s campus. With four teams in the Tracer FIRE event, one of PVAMU’s teams placed second, highlighting the strengths of the new cybersecurity concentration in the Roy G. Perry College of Engineering.
“I was very happy with our students’ performance and the collaboration with Sandia Labs,” said Na Li, Ph.D., associate professor in the Computer Science Department and leading coordinator of PVAMU’s new cybersecurity concentration. “It was a huge success.”
Held Feb. 10-12, the Tracer FIRE forensics-based cybersecurity workshop featured eight teams from six universities, including Texas A&M University at College Station, Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, University of Texas at El Paso, University of Texas at Austin and University of Texas at Dallas.
“I collaborated with Sandia Labs and started planning the event in the fall,” said Li. “We had about 40 students who participated in Tracer FIRE. For PV students, they attended in person, and the other students participated virtually. We had two Sandia engineers visit us for this event. They assisted all students—virtually and in person—with the competition.”
Because of pandemic protocols still in place, PVAMU and Sandia Labs organized the competition as a hybrid virtual event with everyone participating in real time.
“Some of the students took my class, computer forensics, last fall when we first offered it in the Department of Computer Science,” she said. “Our students got to see what they learned from the class could be used. I am very proud of our students.”
The PVAMU team that placed second, known as The Threats, included five undergraduate students from the Computer Science Department: Jamal James Henry, Daylon Keith Adkison, Damon Trevon McLaurin, Garrett Alexander Powell and Dedrick T. Jackson.
Real-World Scenarios, Proactive Results
The Tracer FIRE competition comprised three levels of action for teams: perception, comprehension and prediction. Each group participated in live, interactive, hands-on assessments and activities that included familiarization with the cyber kill chain, forensic analysis on infected disk and memory images, and traffic analysis on how malware communicates over its command and control.
“Cyber forensic events such as these can teach anyone participating about the importance of securing their individual systems,” said PVAMU team member Daylon Adkison. Adkison is a senior computer science major currently enrolled in PVAMU’s cybersecurity concentration. “With scenarios and tools such as the ones set up in the event, anyone can have the opportunity to learn how to follow the bread crumb trails left by attackers within the cyber environment—a truly invaluable skill!”
Sandia Labs designed the competition to test the skills of university and high school students across the nation, exposing them to some of the latest cyber threats plaguing industries. Access to modern cybersecurity software programs allows student teams to build the confidence they need when confronted with a cyber incident in the real world.
“I loved investigating the simulated cyber incident and presenting it to the judges,” said junior computer science major Dedrick Jackson, another member of the PVAMU team that placed second. “Every checkpoint felt superb; every clue led to another clue, and everything we were going over was something I had done in class.”
Most people might think of cybersecurity employees as individuals hunched over a computer, working in isolation to identify and stop threats. However, Li said cooperation and teamwork are essential elements in the field. Sandia Labs incorporated that into the Tracer FIRE competition.
“My favorite part of the competition was the teamwork and communication shared within my team,” said Adkison. “We had the opportunity to ask each other about various challenges, work together to assemble the story and be comfortable enough with each other to properly present our findings to the judges. Having the right team made the competition a ton of fun.”
Students were also able to view job opportunities and internships with Sandia Labs, speaking with the two Sandia Labs representatives who attended the onsite event at PVAMU.
PV Ramping Up Cybersecurity Offerings
Prior to Fall 2021, the PVAMU Computer Science Department did not offer a course in computer forensics. However, that all changed after Li developed the course following an increased student interest.
“Cybersecurity is really an important field,” said Li. “It should be offered by all universities. We are seeing a lot of internet attacks that impact government and academia.”
Gartner Research projects that businesses will spend $170.4 billion on cybersecurity this year, a figure that has increased from $123 billion in 2020. And cyber attackers are not easy to catch. IBM estimates that it takes around 280 days to track down and contain the average cyber attack at the cost of $3.86 million.
With an increase in attacks in both the public and private sectors comes an uptick in demand for workers skilled in identifying and preventing cybersecurity threats. This is how PVAMU students who participate in the cybersecurity course offerings have an opportunity to make an impact.
“The cybersecurity workforce is in demand,” said Li. “That’s why Prairie View can stand out. There are not a lot of HBCUs with a cybersecurity concentration. I see students desiring to jump into this area.”
Li said that newly enrolled students at PVAMU seek her out to learn more about the cybersecurity concentration and how they can be a part of the growing focus.
“Students are really interested in this field,” she said. “Now, we have about 20 students enrolled in the concentration. I think Prairie View is at the top of the HBCUs.”
Because of the success of the computer forensics course and the increased interest from students and faculty, Li developed (and is currently teaching) several security courses for undergraduate and graduate students. The current concentration track is limited to undergraduate students pursuing a degree in computer science.
“If it goes pretty well, we want to develop a program for cybersecurity,” said Li. “Our department has been talking about it. More security courses will be offered, and I think we will have more faculty join the team.”
An Eye to the Future
The success of the Tracer FIRE competition resulted in praise from Sandia Labs and an excitement for the future of cybersecurity course offerings at PVAMU.
Na Li, Ph.D.
“As the Tracer FIRE team continues to expand its outreach programs, the team was very excited to conduct our first event at Prairie View A&M,” said Tyler Morris, R&D S&E Cybersecurity at Sandia National Laboratories.
Morris, who attended the event at PVAMU, said the collaboration was a “huge success” that showcased the students’ abilities and eagerness to advance in the field.
“The students had a wide technical breadth and came ready to learn,” said Morris. “This workshop used the newest Tracer FIRE, Tracer FIRE 10, which simulates attacks on state government infrastructure.”
As Li had anticipated, the importance of cybersecurity as a concentration—and potential program—has caught the attention of fellow faculty members who recognize the need for PVAMU students to be at the forefront of this exciting field.
“Tracer FIRE represents a huge success for the university and for the College of Engineering. It also provides an opportunity for our students to learn how to protect our vital infrastructure, core institutions, and private information from cyberattacks – these are the battlefronts of the future,” said Interim Associate Dean Lealon Martin, Ph.D., who delivered opening remarks for the event on behalf of the dean. “Cybersecurity is a critical and key concern that falls within the national interest. Not only did our students compete vigorously against teams from top schools and nationally recognized programs, but we claimed the second-place prize.”
For Adkison, an eye to the future includes looking forward to next year’s competition and a bigger field of teams.
“Hopefully, for next year’s cyber forensic competition,” said Adkison, “more of PVAMU will be interested in cybersecurity and will put their detective work to the test!”
To find out more information about PVAMU’s new Cybersecurity Concentration, click here.
By Kerry Laird
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