[amsat-bb] Hack-a-Sat Call for Participation

[Michelle Thompson]

Thank you for the interest! We have 14 on the team and rising.

The one question that has come up is whether federal contractors can
participate. There is a FAQ at the Hack-a-Sat website that addresses this.

Q: Can my business team include contractors (not "Federal entities", not
"Federal employees", not "Federal Government Military or Civilian
employee") who support federal contracts?

A: Yes.

If this happens to be holding you back from participating, then know that
it should not. I understand that there are a complex variety of definitions
involved, but the FAQ was written to address a common case that isn't
disqualified from this particular event, organized through the Air Force.

-Michelle W5NYV




On Fri, May 8, 2020 at 12:26 PM Michelle Thompson <
mountain.michelle at gmail.com> wrote:

> Greetings all!
>
> I've put out the call for participation for the Hack-a-Sat competition in
> the past, and would like to bring you all up to date on the developments
> and opportunities that have developed since.
>
> The website is here: https://www.hackasat.com/
>
> Hack-a-Sat is an activity that was scheduled to happen at the in-person
> DEFCON event.
>
> As of today, yes, it's true. DEFCON has been cancelled.
>
> Those of you that have volunteered at Ham Radio Village in the past are
> familiar with the event. For those of you that are not, it's a long-running
> hacking and cybersecurity event that has enthusiastically adopted
> everything RF and amateur radio.
>
> The United States Air Force, in conjunction with the Defense Digital
> Service, organized this year’s Space Security Challenge, called Hack-A-Sat.
> This challenge asks hackers from around the world to focus their skills and
> creativity on solving cybersecurity challenges on space systems. This
> competition is going to be held! It's now a virtual event.
>
> Security in the amateur radio sense of the word is fundamentally different
> from commercial and military applications. We have an advantage here,
> mainly due to the enormous leverage we have due to our context being
> completely different from what the Air Force and commercial interests
> assume. This is, essentially, a diversity advantage.
>
> If you want to participate on an experienced Capture The Flag (CTF) team,
> then I am here to extend an invitation. Anyone that reads through the rules
> and can afford to spend some time during the event is invited to apply to
> join Vaporsec. This is a team that has a majority of information security
> professionals. There are some satellite industry people, some amateur
> involvement, and I'd like to make sure that anyone interested in competing
> from AMSAT-BB gets a chance to join a competitive team.
>
> The benefits to amateur radio are primarily technical, with policy and
> security a close second. The Air Force has some agendas here in terms of
> improving satellite security. Exposure to the challenges alone is a an
> excellent opportunity to learn more about modern satellite technology...
> and what a significant player in space wants to find out more about. Don't
> assume that that the challenges in the competition are going to be "too
> hard". What is trivial for one viewpoint is unsolvable for another.
>
> I'll be writing about the event and what we learned when it is over, so
> this sort of knowledge will not be secret. However, there is no replacement
> for participation, and you could very well have the practical knowledge,
> gained from operating real satellites, that wins the competition. As you
> can see from the website, there is some real money involved and
> opportunities for technical writing.
>
> Let me know at w5nyv at arrl.net if you would like to talk more about
> joining a CTF team for this really neat and unique event.
>
> Know someone that you think should participate? Please forward to them.
>
> -Michelle W5NYV
>
>
>