Oklahoma State team succeeds in DC3 Digital Forensics Challenge

Monday, February 10, 2014

Oklahoma State University students Kevin Ebersole and Matt Sober prevailed in the 2013 Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3) Digital Forensics Challenge. The undergrad team, CowboySec, placed 11th out of 1,254 entries worldwide and second out of 181 undergrad teams. Their 5,082 points put them only 24 points behind the top undergrad team.

The 2013 DC3 Digital Forensics Challenge was a total points contest online. The contest started on Dec. 17, 2012, and lasted over 10 months. Teams could register and submit their solutions throughout the challenge. Regardless of registration date, all final submissions were due Nov. 1, 2013.

With the exercises varying in subject matter and difficulty, CowboySec solved the 2013 DC3 Digital Forensics Challenge on its own and submitted its solution to be graded. Based on the team's leaderboard ranking, eligibility and demographic it could qualify for prizes from sponsors. Final scores were announced in December.

The challenge covered numerous digital forensic topics, many of which fall under the area of cyber security. Some examples are challenges dealing with steganography, cracking different types of encrypted files, cracking Windows login passwords, doing computer memory image analysis, etc.

Kevin Ebersole, a senior studying Computer Science and specializing in cyber security during the contest, appreciates the experience.

“Competing in this challenge helped me to realize how enjoyable doing digital forensic work really is,” Ebersole said.

The 2013 DC3 Digital Forensics Challenge was the most successful one yet with players from around the world and more submissions than ever before. The challenge had 1,254 registered teams from 49 states and 49 countries. Like last year, the United States took seven of the top 10 spots.

For more information about the DC3 Digital Forensics Challenge visit http://www.dc3.mil/challenge/2013/index.php.