Two American University of Sharjah (AUS) students won first place at the Cyber Quest Competition, which aims to raise awareness about cyber security among school and university students. Youssef Awad and Brylle Gomez, students from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), won the Cyber Exercise competition held as part of the university challenge.

The competition, initiated by the Signals Intelligence Agency, included a training round that introduced participants to different aspects of cyber security in order to develop their skills in preparation for the final competition, which tests students on a wide spectrum of cyber security skills. Students received training on how to protect their networks and to defend them against cyber attacks carried out by the opposing team. Teams were scored based on their performance in defending their infrastructure, and protecting it from being defaced or compromised.

Dr. Fadi Aloul, Professor and Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, said:

“Cyber security is a very important component of every digital effort today. As we are heading toward smart cities, cyber security and blockchain are gathering wide interest and momentum and it’s important to encourage youngsters at an early age to think of safety and security in day-to-day tasks. Competitions such as these allow students to engage with top experts in the field and encourage them to choose this as a subject to major in in the future.”

Two more CSE students, Nada Abdalgawad and Ali Sajun, were among the 60 students who participated in the final round of the competition.