New cybersecurity group hits the ground running

The idea to start the student-led group Applied Cybersecurity came just before starting freshman year when a Stanford IT official came to me to talk about cybersecurity. I had just returned from doing cybersecurity and communication security in the Army Signal Corps, so naturally I jumped on board, hoping to help make Stanford students and faculty aware of both tech development and the security and defense of the systems that we now heavily rely on for day to day life.

The group now hosts regular technical and policy related workshops for Stanford grad and undergrad students. After less than six months the group was able to field both a cyber white hat hacking competition team and a cyber policy competition team. The hacking team placed second in the Western Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition Invitational allowing them to progress to regionals where they placed fourth overall and third in "Best Defense."

Applied Cybersecurity aims to fulfill its commitment to being all inclusive and find a way to better address cybersecurity policy issues rather than solely technical issues. We also plan to collaborate with UC Berkeley's cyber team and continue our relationship with Stanford's Cyber Initiative to develop even more cohesive curriculum and more accessible forums to educate team members and the general public.