The TSU team for computer security SiBears became the absolute winner of the international hacking competition iCTF 2018, which is held by the University of California Santa Barbara. The team consists of students, employees, and graduates of the Institute of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science (IAMCS).
This year, the Capture The Flag (UCSB iCTF) tournament was open to everyone interested in computer security. Not only students from different universities around the world were SiBears's rivals but also professional, experienced teams from the USA, Germany, and other countries that are at the top, and SiBears had to fight for first place with them.
- At international competitions, the results of teams can be checked
for compliance with the rules. It's not uncommon that the scores are
recounted and the results change after a check, -says Oleg Broslavsky,
the team captain. - We waited a little less than a day after the
tournament for them to officially announce the winners. Organizers
decided that everything was correct, so we rightly won iCTF 2018.
Such a victory for the team is not a surprise, but rather a quite predictable result. SiBears is an initiative of the students themselves, where each member of the team tries to develop professionally in an interesting area of information technology and computer security. Many are engaged in research, write articles, and speak at practical and scientific conferences.
SiBears is also a community that openly conducts lectures and trainings every week. To attract talented applicants, they conduct free of charge the School of the Young Security Officer, where they tell interested Tomsk students about information technology and computer security.
- We are pleased that we are able to create an environment that is comfortable, pleasant, and interesting for a person to sit at the university on Saturdays before closing, stay overnight during the competition, and become a sought-after specialist in IT. And these are not just words, but also facts, - notes Alexandra Murzina, a participant of the SiBears team, a 2nd-year Master’s student of IAMCS. - All participants of SiBears from senior courses work in leading IT and IB companies. At graduation, each has several offers from competing companies. And the same companies are eagerly waiting for when the younger students grow up, in order to quickly hunt up young and talented SiBears.
In April, experienced SiBears members are waiting for the RuCTF international competition.
