J. Parker Garrison, a senior in the College of Computing and Informatics, recently won the prestigious SANS NetWars Core Tournament at the RSA conference held in San Francisco.
The tournament was a competitive hands-on information security challenge created to enhance the skills of information security professionals. NetWars participants played solo or in teams of up to five players as they navigated and progressed through five levels of increasingly difficult challenges that cover all aspects of information security.
Garrison, who is a student in the CCI Department of Software and Information Systems, competed against 60 cybersecurity professionals.
“It was very exciting,” said Garrison. “I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to challenge myself while competing against some of the best professionals in the field. It was even more thrilling when I realized I was the overall champion.”
Jason Blanchard, with the SANS Institute, said, “Parker was quite remarkable in the challenges. He has some serious skills for his age. In addition, he also won a four-month subscription to our online version of NetWars that he’ll be able to play to help prepare for the 2017 SANS NetWars Tournament of Champions in December in Washington, D.C.”
Garrison is pursuing an undergraduate as well as a master’s degree in cybersecurity. He is expected to graduate from the master’s program in May 2018. He is supported by the Scholarship for Service program. Members of the program, upon graduation, will work for the federal, state or local government.