Madalina Sas from the Inter-ACE 2017 winning team and Rodrigo Vieira Steiner from the C2C 2017 winning team, describe what they got out of competing:
Q. Madalina, what do you feel were the main benefits of taking part in the Inter-ACE?
A. Meeting talented people with a similar mindset, getting in touch with the cybersecurity scene and working with team-mates and against teams with very diverse experience. This was my first capture-the-flag style competition and I learned a lot!It’s been a great experience and complementary to my studies. I have just finished my master’s thesis about privacy-enhancing software and I have decided I will be pursuing a career in cybersecurity this autumn.
Q. Rodrigo, what do you feel were the main benefits of taking part in the C2C?
A. It’s a lot of fun taking part, and a great opportunity to meet new people with similar interests. I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested in cybersecurity.One of the main benefits is that you get hands-on experience of cybersecurity from an attacker’s and defender’s perspective. It’s difficult to get this experience legally! You learn a lot from this and from your team-mates. Finally, the prizes are a welcomed bonus! Our team came 1st and won £9,000, and there were also prizes for the 2nd and 3rd place.
The full interviews can be read here Imperial College students do the double at cyber-security competitions
