4/15/04

Cheryl Cobb, 334/844-2220

AUBURN TEAM HIGH FINISHERS IN DIGITAL COMBAT EXERCISE

AUBURN -- A team of four Auburn University computer science and software engineering students have captured second place in a competition to test the security of combat computer systems.

The contest staged at Huntsville's Von Baun Civic Center was part of the 2004 Southeastern Software Engineering Conference, "Technologies That Will Change the World."

It was sponsored by the Army, NASA and the Missile Defense Agency.

The exercise challenged six professional/industrial teams -- AU, Army Aviation and Missile Research and Development and Engineering Command, British Aerospace, Northrop Grumman, Teledyne Brown, and the University of Alabama at Huntsville.

The Auburn and Northrup Grumman teams were the only two to successfully breach the router, penetrate the firewall and disrupt network files and resources of the combat computer systems.

The Auburn team members included team captain Adam Sachitano of Lake Charles, La.; Wade Chatam of Birmingham and Brian Eoff of Madison, all master's candidates; and Adam Hathcock of Auburn, a senior.

"This was a real-world test against some of the best in the nation," said Ralph Zee, associate dean for research in AU's Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. "Their performance is testament to the strength of our programs and the quality of our students."

apr04:AU-security