Novel AI system awarded $2 million in Cyber Challenge, advances to finals

Alexandra Grace Wilson — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 20:16:14 +0000

Novel AI system awarded $2 million in Cyber Challenge, advances to finals Alexandra Grac… Thu, 09/05/2024 - 14:16

A team spanning six universities and including assistant professor Yueqi Chen and PhD candidate Qinrun Dai from the CU Boulder Department of Computer Science are advancing to the final competition of the 2-year DARPA and ARPA-H AI Cyber Challenge.

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Interview with a hacker: assistant professor Yueqi Chen

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 17:51:11 +0000

Interview with a hacker: assistant professor Yueqi Chen Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/19/2023 - 11:51

Grace Wilson

Using generative AI to create an image of "hacking" brings up images of shady characters in hoodies with code streams from The Matrix running behind them. However, as Assistant Professor in computer science Yueqi Chen says, hacking can be ethical, and is necessary in order to protect people.

Q+A with Yueqi Chen

What do most people not understand about ethical hacking?

While people often grasp the concepts of “ethical” and “hacking” individually, they struggle to reconcile the two: How can hacking be considered ethical? Unlike physics, chemistry, or even other fields within computer science, cybersecurity comes into being due to the existence of adversaries. Without a deep understanding of attackers, it is hard to design protection schemes that really work. Much like a football game, if we don’t study the strategies employed by the opponents, mounting an effective defense becomes exceedingly difficult.

What do you enjoy about hacking?

One thing I enjoy is the sense of accomplishment and the fulfillment of curiosity. Hacking is essentially playing games. The exhilaration of a successful hack is comparable to the thrill of securing a “chicken dinner” victory* in PUBG.

Another is the camaraderie formed when hacking alongside teammates. You know they can be counted on and they know that you will be stand by, not just for hacking challenges but also for life and career obstacles. A “battlefield” camaraderie exists without really setting foot on a physical battlefield.

How did you get started with hacking?

I was a sophomore when I did some hacking for the first time. I spent the whole night delving into the binary bomb challenges from the lab assignments in Carnegie Mellon University’s textbook named “Computer Systems: A Programmer’s Perspective”. That night… left me with a profound sense of joy and accomplishment. This was my start but, after this, I shifted my focus to computer architecture for the next two years until 2017 when I started my Ph.D. study.

In the first year of my Ph.D. study, I participated in the NSA codebreaker challenge together with other students. Our team finally ranked 5th nationwide. This accomplishment led me to earnestly consider hacking as my research focus, as it not only brings me happiness but also fulfills my curiosity about the unknown.

How would you recommend people learn how to hack?

The principle is to “get your hands dirty”. Some valuable resources include CTF Time , PWN College (a learning platform built by my collaborators in Arizona State), and writeups by other ethical hackers.

By reproducing these writeups, one can quickly acquire the hands-on skills essential for hacking. Best of all, these resources are free.

*Editor's Note: A “chicken dinner” victory in the video game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) means being the last person standing in a large-scale player vs. player battle with up to 100 other players.

Assistant professor in computer science Yueqi Chen says hacking can be ethical and is necessary in order to protect people. Learn more about his philosophy, journey and tips for starting on your own ethical hacking.

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UCCS leads CU-wide virtual center to forge next-generation Cyber Rangers

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 16:05:56 +0000

UCCS leads CU-wide virtual center to forge next-generation Cyber Rangers Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/05/2023 - 10:05

Professor of Computer Science at CU Boulder Dirk Grunwald and Assistant Professor of Computer Science at CU Boulder Yueqi Cheng are both joining a team spanning the University of Colorado's Colorado Springs, Boulder and Denver campuses to create a virtual center for training ROTC cadets into cyber rangers for next-generation cyber operations.

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Yueqi Chen

Novel AI system awarded $2 million in Cyber Challenge, advances to finals

Off

Interview with a hacker: assistant professor Yueqi Chen

Q+A with Yueqi Chen

What do most people not understand about ethical hacking?

What do you enjoy about hacking?

How did you get started with hacking?

How would you recommend people learn how to hack?

UCCS leads CU-wide virtual center to forge next-generation Cyber Rangers

UCCS leads CU-wide virtual center to forge next-generation Cyber Rangers