NEW YORK, Nov. 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- A team of students from the Georgetown University presented the best analysis and incident response approach to a simulated cyberattack in order to claim victory at the second annual Deloitte Foundation Cyber Threat Competition.  Brian Hecht, Tavish Vaidya, Jeffrey Tso and Nathan Hawke, the school's team members, each received $2,000 in scholarship money. The teams from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and University of Notre Dame placed second and third, respectively.

The Deloitte Foundation Cyber Threat Competition is designed and facilitated by Deloitte Advisory cyber risk services in order to raise awareness with soon-to-graduate college students of the escalating cyber risk problem facing organizations. Cyber incidents are not merely technical issues; they are business issues that could impact any part of an organization from the executive suite, to operations or human resources. Today's students, regardless of major, should be aware and prepared to address cyber risk for the future businesses they will support.

"Scarcity of talent is one of the biggest obstacles organizations face in dealing with cyber threats," said Ed Powers, U.S. leader for Deloitte Advisory cyber risk services. "Cyber is not just about technology. It is a first order business risk that requires smart, creative, and highly engaged people to address one of the most important challenges facing our economy and our society. This competition is designed to expose some of America's top students to the business and technology dimensions of cyber risk and to build the next generation of talent in this increasingly important area." 

Participating institutions:

• Carnegie Mellon University
• Georgetown University
• The Pennsylvania State University
• Purdue University
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• SUNY Binghamton
• SUNY Buffalo
• Texas A&M University
• University of Houston
• University of Illinois
• University of Notre Dame
• University of Southern California
• University of Washington
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

"The Deloitte Foundation recognizes cybersecurity as one of the most complex issues that students will face as they enter the working world.  Our mission is to accelerate positive change in education and find creative and impactful ways to prepare students for the future," said Carol Lindstrom, president, Deloitte Foundation. "This year's competition was inspiring and provided confirmation that the future's in good hands with any of these future business professionals."

Students who choose cybersecurity as a profession have an opportunity to make significant contributions – to protect the people around them, to help the economy thrive, and to defend national security. Universities play an important role in preparing our future leaders to face the complexity and potential impact cyber incidents will have on American businesses in the future. The Deloitte cyber-threat competition is designed to bring awareness and practical application of the skills required to prepare for, respond to, and better recover from the cyber incidents on the horizon.

About The Deloitte Foundation
The Deloitte Foundation, founded in 1928, is a not-for-profit organization that supports education in the U.S. through a variety of initiatives that help develop the talent of the future and their influencers and promote excellence in teaching, research and curriculum innovation. The foundation sponsors an array of national programs relevant to a variety of professional services, benefitting middle/high school students, undergraduates, graduate students and faculty. For more information, please visit the Deloitte Foundation website at www.deloitte.com/us/df.

About Deloitte Cyber Risk Services

As part of the market-leading Advisory practice, Deloitte's cyber risk services help complex organizations more confidently leverage advanced technologies to achieve their strategic growth, innovation and performance objectives through proactive management of the associated cyber risks. With deep experience across a broad range of industries, Deloitte's more than 2,500 cyber risk services practitioners provide advisory and implementation services, spanning executive and technical functions, to help transform legacy IT security programs into proactive, secure, vigilant and resilient cyber risk programs.  Deloitte Advisory cyber risk services works with our clients worldwide to better align cybersecurity investments with strategic business priorities, establish improved threat awareness and visibility, and strengthen the ability of organizations to thrive in the face of cyber incidents.

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

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SOURCE Deloitte

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