CARE Lab 2024 Social Engineering Competition

The CARE Lab is hosting its 4^th Social Engineering Competition virtually in April/May 2024!

SEC allows students to compete in a purely social engineering experience that is grounded in the social sciences. The competition offers a timely and unique platform for students to learn about social engineering in a hands-on, engaging, and ethical manner. The competition has a different theme each year to demonstrate the relevance of social engineering across various cybersecurity areas, and is open to high school, undergraduate, and graduate students.

This year’s theme, tax scams, is inspired by the IRS’ annual Dirty Dozen list of tax scams for 2023. According to IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, scammers are “coming up with new ways all the time to try to steal information from taxpayers”. So, what exactly are these ways? Come find out how cybercriminals are using social engineering in employment and tax scams.

No technical experience is required. High school and college students (aged 14+) from all disciplinary backgrounds are welcome!

Details

Applications for the 2024 Social Engineering Competition are being accepted from NOW till Monday, February 19th, 2024 at 12pm ET

Orientation date (virtual): Saturday, March 23, time TBD (this is not optional – please hold this date on your calendar)

Competition dates (virtual, these are not optional – please hold these dates on your calendar):

Graduate Level: April 5, 6, 7, times TBD
Undergraduate: April 19, 20, 21, times TBD
High school Level: May 3, 4, 5, times TBD

Closing ceremonies (virtual): Wednesday, May 8, time TBD (this is not optional – please hold this date on your calendar)

Why a ‘pure’ social engineering competition?

There are MANY cybersecurity competitions already in existence (PicoCTF, PlaidCTF, CSAW, UCSB iCTF, US Cyber Challenge, Panoply, CPTC, CCDC, CyberPatriot, Cyber Academy, to name a few). While these are all excellent sources of hands-on training, they are primarily technical in nature and have specific focus areas, such as reverse engineering, hacking, cryptography, and exploitation. They do not emphasize the relevance of the human-socio-psychological aspects of cyberattacks and cybersecurity.

Given that the human factor is increasingly being exploited by cybercriminals, a pure SE competition grounded in the social sciences offers a timely and unique platform for students to learn about this topic in a hands-on, engaging, and ethical manner.

Who can participate?

This event is open to high school, undergraduate, and graduate students. Teams are required (solo entries are not permitted). Team sizes can range from 2-4 members. Members can be from different institutions (schools/colleges), but must be at the same educational level (ex: purely high school students).

When and how can we put our application in?

*Registration deadline is Monday, February 19, 2024 at 12pm ET.