2022 HiveStorm

General Overview

Hivestorm is a timed team cyber defense competition, focusing more on the defensive aspect (Blue Team) as opposed to the hacking aspect (Red Team). We are given a list of security issues to address, and correcting those issues gives teams points. Doing an action that harms the system would result in a reduction of points. We do these actions by using virtual machines (also referred to as VMs) with various Linux and Windows operation system versions.

The Experience

As this was many of our first times participating in a competitive cyber defense competition, including myself, we did not organize each person to do an individual task or focus on a particular area, but instead all help each other progress through the issues we had. These teams were hosted by the Greyhats club at UH Manoa, and we were given training for several weeks prior to the competition. We were taught to get used to Linux and virtual machines in general and how to address common issues provided by Hivestorm. Being able to use proper reasoning while under the pressure of a time limit was vital to successfully obtaining points.

Takeaways

This experience was very engaging for me, and heavily piqued my interest regarding cyber security along with associated career paths. I was provided with resources to get started (via Greyhats), and the knowledge and team communications were also individually very worthwhile experiences. Exposure to the Hivestorm environment was also impactful, and I’d now be able to continue to work under a time limit better. Hivestorm also helps with preparing for other cyber security competitions, such as the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC), which I intend on doing eventually.

This is the Hivestorm website.