By Staff Reports
(Honolulu) – A team of students from the Computing, Electronics & Networking Technologies (CENT) program at Honolulu Community College finished 7th in the nation in the Gold Division of the Fall 2014 season of the National Cyber League (NCL). The team was anchored by Honolulu CC students: Eric Kotake who placed 3rd, Taylor Kina who placed 76th, and Joe Lee who placed 103rd overall, out of 822 national competitors.
The vision of the National Cyber League (NCL) is to create a cybersecurity competition that runs in a similar fashion to a collegiate athletic event. Students participating in the NCL are provided with an on-line virtual gymnasium to practice their cyber skills and an on-line stadium in which the competitions are run in. There are three brackets to engage novice (Bronze), intermediate (Silver) and experienced players (Gold).
CENT student team.
“We’re proud of all the players from over 145 colleges and universities that competed in the NCL season,” states Casey O’Brien, Commissioner of the National Cyber League. “In addition to working through customized content in the NCL Gyms, these students had to rigorously demonstrate knowledge and skills based on various industry-recognized performance objectives.”
At Honolulu Community College, CENT Professor Aaron Tanaka, used the NCL Gym Exercises and the NCL competition to enhance a CENT 390 Special Topics course he taught on Ethical Hacking.
“At Honolulu CC we are strong advocates of hands-on learning and really appreciate the interactive and dynamic nature of the NCL. We feel that just by participating in the competition, all our students gained in their quest of becoming cybersecurity professionals,” shares Tanaka. A second Honolulu CC team, HCC-Makai, also competed in the Fall 2014 NCL season and finished 17th in the Bronze division.
The NCL was founded in May 2011 to provide an ongoing virtual training ground for collegiate students to develop, practice, and validate their cybersecurity skills using next-generation high-fidelity simulation environments.
During the month of February, Honolulu Community College is celebrating National Career and Technical Education (CTE) month. Along with the college’s strong liberal arts program, Honolulu is proud to offer 21 CTE programs that include CENT, Communication Arts, Diesel Mechanics Technology, Early Childhood Education, and Architectural Engineering and CAD Technology, to name a few. Explore the possibilities at www.honolulu.hawaii.edu.