Students will stay up for 27 hours this weekend to defend their computer systems against hackers when teams compete in the first Cyber Defense Competition.

The competition starts at 5 p.m. Friday and continues until 8 p.m. Saturday in Suite 2105 of Building Two at the ISU Research Park, 2625 North Loop Drive.

The competition kicks off the opening of the Internet-Scale Event and Attack Generation. The event gives students the opportunity to show off their computer skills for both ISU faculty and professionals from the Internet security field.

The competition will be split into four different groups. The first group, the “blue” group, will consist of the six registered student teams of four to six members. They will defend their computer network against the “red” team of computer hacking professionals from Des Moines and Ames. The “green” team will represent common users and include members of the audience. Their role in the project will be to ensure the networks are working by browsing the Internet. All of these activities will be judged by ISU faculty and security professionals in the “white” group.

The judging will be based upon how well a network is protected or can successfully fix complications imposed by a hacker, Doug Jacobson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, said. Teams will also be judged on the submitted team report outlining their strategies.

“This is a capstone type of experience for them,” he said.

Jacobson is the adviser and researcher behind the project.

He said military academies have been doing similar competitions for several years, but no other public university has done a competition on this large of a scale.

“We’re the first public university to do this,” said Nate Evans, junior in computer engineering and competition director. “We’re trying to promote Iowa State’s name in the Internet security field.”

Evans said the competition has received a great deal of interest from professionals in Internet security. He said he hopes the event will generate interest in the Internet security field among ISU students.

The total cost of the competition will be around $50,000, Jacobson said. It is being funded through Department of Justice and the Information Assurance Center.

Evans said he hopes this event will become an annual competition and said the teams may challenge military academies next year.

Members of the winning blue team will receive a $100 gift certificate to the University Book Store and have their name on a plaque in Coover Hall.

The event is open to the public.