Cybersecurity Volunteers, Students, and Professionals Conquer The Venture Center’s 2019 JOLT Cyber Challenge

Posted on October 15, 2019
Share via

 Special thanks to our JOLT 2019 Sponsors!


1.png

Cybersecurity Volunteers, Students, and Professionals Conquer The Venture Center’s 2019 JOLT Cyber Challenge

Record-breaking number of participants enjoyed a jam-packed weekend of cyber games, skill development, and team-building

Little Rock, ARK. Oct. 14, 2019 – The Venture Center’s 2019 JOLT Cyber Challenge concluded on Sunday for nearly 150 participants from across the region. This year’s top prize went to the University of Arkansas student team, “That Team Over There,” who earned the most points during the weekend-long cyber event. 

The JOLT Cyber Challenge is an expert-designed cybersecurity training requiring hundreds of volunteer hours to produce. Corporate, student and individual teams register for the games to strengthen development skills through teambuilding challenges. 

The Venture Center Executive Director Wayne Miller says the organization will continue to host the games because the opportunity to strengthen Arkansas’ tech community is invaluable. Said Miller, “One of the reasons the JOLT Cyber Challenge is important to our state is because it allows us to showcase our local tech talent, and encourage networking with other tech professionals, building a strong Arkansas tech community. It’s a weekend to educate participants on the many tech opportunities we have right here in Arkansas so we can keep our talent here and help Arkansas tech companies fill their jobs.” 

Chris Wright, lead Game Master and CEO of Citadel Systems, also noted the community aspect of the event. “JOLT is a community-focused cybersecurity competition that brings students and industry together to solve puzzles, think critically, and network,” said Wright. “The Game Masters are committed to this event because we know the high cost of vulnerability for businesses and individuals. We are deeply committed to encouraging and strengthening Arkansas’ tech community and to insulating individuals and businesses from devastating cyber attacks.”

2019 JOLT Competitors included corporate teams, independent teams, and student teams all competing for accolades and prizes while developing high-level tech skills. Focus areas include remote access exploits, web vulnerabilities, code-breaking, physical security, privilege escalation, reverse engineering, code manipulation. Next year’s JOLT Cyber Challenge is slated for October 16 – 18, 2020. To learn more about JOLT, please visit venturecenter.co/jolt.

About The Venture Center

As the front door for entrepreneurs in Central Arkansas and around the globe, The Venture Center’s multi-stage process of education, collaboration, and acceleration drives the development of scalable, investable businesses at every level of maturity.