Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Strong Showing for Orange Hacker’s Association at National Cybersecurity Competitions

Tuesday, November 7, 2017, By Alex Dunbar
Share
College of Engineering and Computer ScienceSTEMStudents

The students in the Orange Hacker’s Association are “white hat hackers”—hackers who test cybersecurity programs not to break them, but to help make them safer.

“People think of it as a very bad thing, but actually a hacker is just someone who knows a system very well,” says master’s student Dhruv Verma.

Orange Hackers

The Orange Hackers practice their skills.

“Only if you try, you know where you fail. The more you attack a surface, you know where the loophole is and you can keep correcting it,” says master’s student Trishna Thrinath.

The student group is advised by College of Engineering and Computer Science Professor Kevin Du, one of the world’s leading cybersecurity researchers.

“With Professor Kevin Du, he is synonymous with cyber security … and we are very lucky to be under his guidance,” says Thrinath. “When he is there, we were thinking, why not have a club everybody can join in?”

The Orange Hackers had a strong showing at the CyberSeed Security Competition hosted by the University of Connecticut in October.

“There were 11 teams. So the idea was to create a secure application and then go into the competition where everybody attacks every other application and then you score points off of what flags you are able to pull out of their database or what flags you are able to pull out of their system,” says Verma.

“We not only have to protect ours, we have to find the loophole in the other teams,” says Thrinath.

“We ended up coming in second and got a special award for best offensive team,” says Verma.

Just a week later, four SU master’s students were nationally ranked for the National Cyber League fall preseason competition. Verma was ranked first, Ashutosh Rana was ranked third, Thrinath was ranked 93rd and Sheeraja Rajakrishnan was ranked 155. Impressive rankings considering how many challengers they faced.

“There are about 3,300 people that participate in that. So again, Orange Hackers are doing pretty well,” says Verma.

The Orange Hackers Association is looking for new members, and not just computer science or engineering students.

“Our tagline is teach, learn and collaborate. So we want to share information we that have, learn with other people, connect with other professionals. Basically create a network of security interested people,” says Verma.

“I know students from other schools which is not even related to engineering who want to learn about security. Hacking is good, hacking is what keeps you safe,” says Thrinath.

If you are interested in joining, you can e-mail the Orange Hacker’s Association at OHA.syr@gmail.com or come to a meeting Tuesdays at 7:00pm at the Center for Science and Technology (CST) Room 4-201.

  • Author

Alex Dunbar

  • Recent
  • Syracuse University Press Participating in Path to Open Program
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By Cristina Hatem
  • A&S Chemistry Professor Receives Award From the American Chemical Society
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By News Staff
  • ‘Guys and Dolls’ Opens Syracuse University Department of Drama 2023/24 Season
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By Joanna Penalva
  • Libraries Add MindSpa Wellness Rooms
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By Cristina Hatem
  • iSchool Professors, Students Honored With ALISE Awards
    Friday, September 29, 2023, By Anya Woods

More In STEM

A&S Chemistry Professor Receives Award From the American Chemical Society

Robert Doyle, Dean’s Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) and associate professor of pharmacology at SUNY Upstate Medical University, received the 2022 American Chemical Society Central New York Section Award in the field of chemistry…

Syracuse University Announces the Opening of the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy and Astrophysics

As Albert Einstein predicted in his theory of relativity more than one hundred years ago, gravitational waves have been rippling through the fabric of space-time since the dawn of the cosmos. Only in the past decade have scientists observed actual…

iSchool Professors, Students Honored With ALISE Awards

Two students and three professors from the School of Information Studies (iSchool) were recently honored with prestigious awards from the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE). Assistant Professor LaVerne Gray was awarded the Norman Horrocks Leadership Award for demonstrating outstanding leadership…

Ian Hosein Awarded New Patent For Process that Generates Energy from Saltwater

The lack of access to clean drinking water impacts billions worldwide. With an estimated 46% of the global population affected, underdeveloped communities don’t have the means to utilize efficient technology for water purification. As the percentage of those affected grows,…

Setting the Agenda in Biology Research: 2 Professors Join NIH Peer Review Committees

The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) is known as the “gateway” for National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications. Expert peer review groups—also called study sections—formed by the CSR assess more than 75% of the thousands of research grant applications…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.