Investigating cybersecurity threats and creating top-notch automated responses came naturally to UNLV students as they faced off against hundreds of cybersecurity experts.

On April 16, student workers from our Information Security Office (ISO) joined Splunk's Southwest Boss of the SOC (BOTS) competition. The competition presented a capture the flag style experience for students, cybersecurity professionals, and educators to solve problems resembling common challenges faced by experts in the cybersecurity field.

Participants competed in the eighth version of the event, where they got to showcase and develop their skills on Splunk, a tool commonly used in the industry to enhance cybersecurity systems. In just four hours, teams of four are given five scenarios that simulated a real-world cyberattack on websites and ransomware. The quicker the teams could get through each scenario, the more points they would score and the higher they placed on the leaderboard.

Throughout the competition, teams collaborated to solve problems and critically think through each scenario. If teams needed help, Splunk officials were present throughout the day to help participants understand the processes needed to succeed. UNLV students Kaitlyn Muston, Victoria Kirchenberger, Vijay Paul Vuppidi, and Omar Loja placed fourth in the competition, ranking above almost 80 other teams.

“I have always attended these events to get more hands-on experience with Splunk and learn more from others,” Kirchenberger said. “When I would go over to check in with my teammates, they were always able to teach me a few more things in Splunk and other outside resources.”

Kirchenberger, along with Muston and Vuppidi, are also ISO student workers who help support our security operations center and enhance the university’s cybersecurity every day. Since joining the team last summer, they have developed the skills needed to win competitions such as BOTS and gained the expertise needed to excel in the field of cybersecurity.

“Going through this process with what I’ve learned at UNLV IT gave me a better understanding of what to look for and what to prioritize first when searching through a case,” Kirchenberger said. “Whether you are tech savvy or are a total novice, you can learn a lot during a Boss of the SOC event.”

For many of these students, this is not their first time taking on a BOTS challenge. This year marked the third time representatives from Splunk had helped host their competition on UNLV’s campus. Over 300 students gathered in-person and virtually, with participants from universities across Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

Alongside the ISO, UNLV’s technical cybersecurity organization Layer Zero helped host the event and promote it to students interested in enhancing their cybersecurity skills. Muston, the organization’s historian, developed the idea of having Layer Zero partner with our ISO team to host this year’s competition.

“All Layer Zero officers are required to organize an event or workshop each semester,” Muston said. “So I decided that for my event, we would partner with IT and host another BOTS competition on campus.”

With their combined efforts, dozens of UNLV students had the opportunity to compete in this year’s BOTS competition and sharpen their incident response skills.

“This is a great event, especially for students who are interested in cybersecurity,” Muston said. “Competing in the event gives you hands-on experience using Splunk, which is a tool used by the majority of professional cybersecurity companies today.”