Southern Cross moves into finals at Global CyberLympics

Infrastructure and business solutions company sees its hacking team crowned regional champions

The Southern Cross Magpies. From left: Terry Morias, Omprakash Moolchandani, Ryan Morris, Anoop Neerakulath and Rahul Satheesan.

The Southern Cross Magpies. From left: Terry Morias, Omprakash Moolchandani, Ryan Morris, Anoop Neerakulath and Rahul Satheesan.

Southern Cross Computer Systems’ team of hackers has been crowned the Australia/Asia champions in the Global CyberLympics.

The team, which goes by the name of Southern Cross Magpies, was the only Australian team to progress beyond round two, where it scored the highest amongst all teams worldwide.

In addition to being one of ten teams to qualify for the final round, the achievements also puts the Southern Cross Magpies amongst the top five in the world.

Southern Cross Computer Systems consulting services general manager, Ashutosh Kapse, says the team competed in three rounds to get to the finals, with the first round being a challenge in forensics to reveal hidden information.

“The second round consisted of hacking into a computer network with multiple systems through identifying and taking advantage of vulnerabilities to gain privileged access,” he said.

“The last round was essentially about taking ownership of a network and defending it while being attacked.”

Before each round, Kapse says the team did extensive planning around what roles each team member would play, based on each one’s strengths.

“After this, it was a matter of executing the strategy very well and adhering to the principles of teamwork,” he said.

Miami heat

Kapse says the Magpie’s success to date has relied upon the strong team dynamics of the “well-credentialed and experienced professionals.”

“There’s a certification worldwide called the Offensive Security Certified Professional, and there are only 500 people worldwide with this certification,” he said.

“We have four of them, which demonstrates the commitment that the team has to cyber security.”

The team will compete in the final round in Miami, Florida to participate in the “Hacker Halted” Conference and the CyberLympics world finals.

“The Miami competition will consist of all previous facets of security combined into one big challenge,” Kapse said.

The Global CyberLympics is a not-for-profit initiative that aims to raise awareness of increased education and ethics in information security through cyber competitions that cover the areas of forensics, ethical hacking and defence.

Tags hackingSouthern Cross Computer Systems (SCCS)

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