Argonne will host DOE’s CyberForce® Competition, which inspires and develops budding energy sector cybersecurity experts. This year, college students will compete to harden and secure a hydropower plant’s systems from cyberattack.
On Nov. 13, college and university students from across the United States will attempt to thwart a simulated cyberattack in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) CyberForce Competition™. The event, led by DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, will convene virtually in 2021.
The CyberForce Competition is part of DOE’s CyberForce® Program, which seeks to inspire and develop the next generation of energy sector cyber defenders. These students can learn and practice skills that will be relevant if they enter a career safeguarding the nation’s critical infrastructure, including power plants and other energy facilities.
The cybersecurity field faces a shortfall of qualified professionals to fill nearly half a million open jobs. These positions usually take 21 percent longer to fill than other information technology jobs, according to CyberSeek, a project that tracks the cybersecurity job market.
Each CyberForce Competition centers around an interactive, scenario-based event where participants get to test their cyber defense skills in real time. In this year’s scenario, participants will be challenged to harden and secure systems of a hydropower company — along with the systems of one of its recently acquired subsidiaries — against a malicious cyberattack, all while maintaining service for customers. The 2021 competition is a partnership between Argonne and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories.
“In the past decade, the U.S. energy sector has become a key target for malicious actors looking to disrupt our energy supplies, economy and everyday lives,” said Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Puesh Kumar of DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Sec ..
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