Shooting Lasers and Solving Crime: Jesuit students look to grow competitive cybersecurity club By Laura I. Winn
On any given Saturday night at arcades across the country, you will find groups of gawky teens racking up points on the latest games, eating junk food and laughing with friends. On July 14 at Laser Tag of Carmichael, the young men from Jesuit High School were there to do all the above, while also sprinkling in discussion of a topic especially relevant to current events: cybersecurity. As members of Jesuit’s award-winning Cybersecurity Team, formally the CyberPatriot Club, the teens not only understand the gravity of cyber attacks threatening everything from emails to elections, but more importantly, how to use research skills and forensic tools to thwart them. In between games of laser tag, the teens hoped to recruit current and incoming Jesuit students to their (mock) cybercrime-fighting team. During the 2017-2018 school year, 18 Jesuit students participated in year-round Air
Force Association CyberPatriot competitions that simulate real-life cyber attacks. After finishing in the top 10 percent nationwide at the CyberPatriot Semifinal Round in February, the teens received an invitation to the California Mayors Cyber Cup, placing first in the Sacramento Region and advancing to the prestigious California Cyber Innovation Challenge. At the June 23 to 25 competition held at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, the teens worked together to stop a mock ransomware attack that threatened lives on a military hospital. Much to their surprise, they took second-place, finishing ahead of schools with more established cybersecurity programs. In comparison to some of the top Southern California schools, Jesuit’s program is small and young, only in its fourth year. To entice students already carrying a rigorous academic load to join the club, which meets during lunch and after school, math teacher and team coach, Mr. Justin Tsai, promises snacks and a good time.
Jesuit High School’s Justin Covairt, Donovan Jasper, Casey Honaker, Peter Sutarjo, Jovin Thomas and Joshua Chou with coach Justin Tsai win second place at the California Cyber Innovative Challenge held June 23 to 25 at Cal Poly.
“As an educator, I say Algebra 2 is important. But I say, Cybersecurity Team is really fun,” he said. Tsai said he stresses the team aspect of the cybersecurity challenges, which bring together students with different computer specialties. The Jesuit team has specialists in Windows, Linux and Cisco operating systems. The computer whizzes come to him with no background in cybersecurity, but through a drive to solve puzzles and win competitions, they push themselves to ac-
quire the skills needed to stop cyber attacks. This often means turning to Google and YouTube–research tools that are second-nature to a generation that has never known life before the Internet. “These kids, their eyes light up when you say computers and competition,” explained Tsai. Class of 2018 valedictorian, Peter Sutarjo, 18, said he first joined the cyber club for the extra credit in algebra, plus the free food and travel perks. But it was the challenges that really piqued his interest. “I
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like finding creative solutions for problems. I like the selfstudying and self-learning of it,” he said. Now headed to UCLA where he will continue his studies in computer science, Sutarjo said cybersecurity is an important for a host of reasons. “It’s politically relevant. Look at the (2016) election. It affects nations. We have to enforce security as a culture. As humans become more hands-off and artificial intelligence increases, you have to have protections. Threats are exponentially growing.” Sutarjo served as a cyber club team leader, along with fellow 2018 graduates, William Heisinger and Michael Honaker. Like Sutarjo, Honaker, 18, said the cyber club gave him an introduction to a growing field he would like to pursue professionally. Honaker, who specializes in Linux, will study computer science and engineering at the renowned Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. In addition to See Cyber club, page 5 Valley Community Newspapers, Inc.