STRATEGY WINS AT CYBER DEFENCE CAMP

There is this saying: "It's not over till the fat lady sings." That colloquialism rang true for the four-student team from Anderson Junior College taking part in this year's Cyber Defenders Discovery Camp (CDDC).

In a last-minute reversal in strategy from defence to attack, they took down the only remaining team in the competition to claw up to pole position. "We used the vulnerability that the other team used to take down all the others,' explained Bryan Lim, 18, one of the team members.

"The only reason the earlier attack didn't take us down, like the rest, was because we were good at defending and could withstand it better," said team-mate Han Jin, 19.

The team chose to spring their surprise counter-attack on the opponent in the last minutes of the competition. "We spent 12-hours every day going through the tutorials because we really wanted to win. It was intense!" said team member Zachary Teo, 18.

The team won in the Junior College/Integrated Programme category and also clinched the Best Defender award for their exceptional ability in defending their systems.

They were among the 323 students from 22 schools taking part in the three-day CDDC. Split into 81 teams, the students spent five hours locked in competition to uncover weaknesses in other teams' IT systems and put in counter-measures to defend their systems from attacks.

Speaking at the CDDC awards ceremony held at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, Minister of State for Defence Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman said: "Actions in cyberspace and other non-conventional areas can be employed to undermine a country and bring it down."

"(Therefore), we need the best cyber defence engineers to keep Singapore safe against future cyber threats the best talents to keep our cyberspace safe 24/7."

In the Universities/Polytechnic category, a team called Smuntunus emerged champions. The team members come from the Singapore Management University (SMU), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) - hence their team name.

They met during an internship programme at the DSO National Laboratories. "The camp was good. We learnt a lot from the instructors, and the environment was great for learning," said Ho Wei Xiong, 25, from NUS.

"I think the most important thing that enabled us to win was that we were good at defence," said Lim Anyu. The 25-year-old is from SMU.

The CDDC is organised by the Defence Science and Technology Agency, with support from the Future Systems and Technology Directorate of the Ministry of Defence. It aims to inspire interest in cyber defence and uncover the brightest minds for Singapore's future cyber defenders.

For more information, visit www.dsta.gov.sg/cddc.